IRLF 


3    Efi7    Dfib 


v 


LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

.  DAVIS 


~* 


* 


SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 


I 


THE     LAWYER. 


BY 


MRS.    L.    C.    TUTHILL. 


4  We  fare  on  earth  as  other  men  have  fared  : 
Were  they  successful  ?     Let  us  not  despair." 
In  the  lexicon  of  youth,  which  Fate  reserves 
For  a  bright  manhood,  there  is  no  such  word 
As /art." 


NEW  YORK: 
GEORGE  P.  PUTNAM. 

LONDON:     PUTNAM'S    AMERICAN    AGENCY. 

1850. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


ENTERED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1850,  by 

GEORGE    P.    PUTNAM, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


BDWARD  O.  JENKINS,  PRINTER  AND  STEREOTYPES, 

No.  114  Nassau  Street,  New  York 


— 


PREFACE. 


GIVE  me  the  best  possible  example  of  an  American  Law 
yer — a  model  for  the  young  men  of  our  country. 

"  The  late  Jeremiah  Mason,  of  Boston,"  was  the  prompt 
reply. 

"  I  recommend  to  your  notice  John  Jay,  of  New  York," 
said  an9ther. 

"  Bring  forward  Chief  Justice  Marshall  as  a  glorious  ex 
ample  !"  exclaimed  a  fervent  admirer  of  that  great  man. 

"  Do  not  forget  Pinckney,  of  Maryland,  one  of  the  ablest 
lawyers  this  country  has  produced,"  added  a  fourth  adviser, 

"  William  Wirt  would  prove  the  most  exciting  and  encour 
aging  example  to  the  youthful  aspirant  to  legal  distinction." 

Stay,  stay !  my  good  friends,  you  have  already  made  out 
a  brilliant  constellation  of  "bright  particular  stars" — may 
they  prove  guiding-stars  to  success. 

It  is  but  an  humble  task  to  daguerreotype  from  spirited 
paintings  executed  by  others.  Yet,  a  similar  task  is  at- 


VI  PREFACE. 

tempted  in  this  little  volume.  The  original  likenesses  were 
drawn  by  great  masters,*  and  the  full-length  portraits  will, 
doubtless,  be  carefully  studied,  when  after  years  give  time 
and  opportunity. 

*  Webster,  Jay,  Wheaton,  Kennedy. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Talents,          ... 


CHAPTER  II. 
Jeremiah  Mason  .........        ,  "*      18 

CHAPTER  III 
Self-Confidence.  —  Gouvcrneur  Morris,   .  .         .        .         .21 

CHAPTER  IV. 
John  Jay,          .        ,        .         ....         .        .        .          27 

CHAPTER  V. 
Unity  of  Purpose.—  John  Marshall  .......    88 

CHAPTER  VI. 
William  Pinckney,    ...  .....  .         .  49 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Energy  and  Perseverance.  —  William  Pinckney,    .        .        .        .    5S 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
William  Wirt's  Childhood,      .......  63 

CHAPTER  IX. 
William  Wirt's  Boyhood,       .......        .81 

CHAPTER  X. 
William  Wirt  Admitted  to  the  Bar,         ...  .86 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XI.  PAGE 

William  Wirt'a  Legal  Progress, -91 

CHAPTER  XII. 
A  Prophecy, 94 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Modesty  and  Emulation, .99 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Advancement, ....  .:        ...        106 

CHAPTER  XV. 
William  Wirt's  Advice  to  a  Young  Lawyer 118 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Wirt  and  Pinckney,         ....  ...        120 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  Closing  Scene,      .        .        •        .  •     .        .        .        .        .126 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
General  Learning. — Legare,  Parker,  Du  Ponceau,    •       •         .        129 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Religious   Principles.  —  Chief  Justice  Tilghman  and   Charles 

Chauncey,  Esq 162 

NOTES, 178 


CHAPTER    FIRST. 

TALENTS. 

"  Who  shall  regulate 
With  truth  the  scale  of  intellectual  rank  ?" 

"  The  most  important  thing  in  life  is  the  choice  of  a  profession."*— Pascal. 

LET  no  boy  think  of  becoming  a  lawyer,  unless  some 
one,  better  qualified  than  himself,  discover  his  talents, — 
talents  peculiarly  adapted  to  that  learned  profession. 

"  A  use  for  everything,  and  everything  to  its  use." 

Do  not  spoil  a  good  merchant  or  mechanic,  by  moiling 
through  life  a  poor  lawyer. 

Neither  should  the  mistakes  of  partial  friends  mislead. 
"  That  boy  is  a  famous  disputer,"  says  a  proud  father  ; 
"  he  can  always  make  the  wrong  appear  the  better  rea 
son;  he  will  make  a  capital  lawyer." 

Because  he  is  like  a  snarling  puppy,  biting  at  every 
body's  heels  !  No,  sir ;  he  is  not  the  boy  for  a  lawyer. 

"  My  son  is  as  cunning  as  a  fox,"  says  the  fond  moth 
er,  whose  watchful  eye  he  evades  ;  "he  will  do  right  well 
for  a  lawyer." 

*  "  La  chose  la  plus  importante  a  la  vie,  c'est  le  choix  d'un  metier." 


10  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Low  cunning  is  the  mark  of  a  small  mind.  Wisdom 
can  find  no  room  there. 

"  That  fellow  has  a  glib  tongue  of  his  own  ;  he  will 
make  a  great  noise  at  the  bar,"  says  the  schoolmaster, 
who  has  been  deceived  by  the  ready  recitations,  which 
have  been  merely  an  eflfort  of  memory.  The  mill  may 
make  as  much  noise  when  there  is  no  grist  in  the  hop 
per,  as  when  it  is  full.  The  schoolmaster  should  remem 
ber, — vox  et  preterea  nihil. 

"  But  here  is  an  incipient  lawyer  surely,  for  he  is  al 
ways  setting  the  other  boys  by  the  ears  !" 

A  pitiful  mistake  !  It  is  the  business  of  the  lawyer 
to  get  people  out  of  difficulties,  not  the  mean,  detestable 
eflfort  to  plunge  them  into  quarrels  which  this  boy's  con 
duct  exhibits.  As  well  might  you  say,  that  the  steam- 
engine  was  made  on  purpose  to  blow  people  up — sky-high. 

Study  well  your  own  capabilities.  Does  your  heart 
thrill  at  the  burning  words  of  eloquence  ?  The  noble  deeds 
of  great  men^  do  they  fill  you  with  enthusiasm  ?  Do 
they  excite  in  you  a  fervent  determination  to  act  a  glori 
ous  part  in  the  life-drama  1  Are  you  filled  with  an  in 
tense  desire  to  defend  the  cause  of  the  oppressed,  to  re 
store  the  injured  to  their  rights,  to  sustain  the  laws  of 
your  country  ? 

Ambition  may  be  a  noble,  generous  passion,  or  it  may 
be  the  meanest,  and  most  selfish  of  all  passions, — 

"  That  sin  by  -which  the  rebel  angels  fell." 


THE    LAWYER.  11 

The  ambition  of  an  unprincipled  man  of  genius,  is  vastly 
different  from  that  of  the  man  who  is  "  great  through  sound 
sense  and  strong  judgment."  These  are  far  better  qual 
ifications  for  a  lawyer,  than  that  indefinite  attribute — 
genius. 

We  acknowledge  that  there  is  an  aptness  or  fitness  for 
a  particular  calling  or  profession,  which  is  usually  mani 
fested  in  boy  hood  ;(1.)  and  this  should,  if  possible,  be  fol- 


(1.)  The  examples  to  illustrate  "Success  in  Life"  are  purposely 
drawn  from  the  biography  of  our  own  countrymen,  yet  reference  to  dis 
tinguished  men  of  other  countries  will  occasionally  be  made  in  the  mar 
ginal  notes. 

William  Pitt,  son  of  the  first  Earl  of  Chatham,  was  little  more  than 
fourteen  years  of  age  when  he  went  to  reside  at  the  University  of 
Cambridge.  At  that  time,  says  his  biographer,  Dr.  Tomline,  after 
wards  Bishop  of  Winchester,  who  was  also  his  tutor,  "  his  proficiency 
in  the  learned  languages  was  probably  greater  than  was  ever  acquired 
by  any  other  person  in  such  early  youth.  In  Latin  authors  he  seldom 
met  with  difficulty,  and  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  him  to  read 
into  English  six  or  seven  pages  of  Thucydides  which  he  had  not  pre 
viously  seen ;  sometimes  without  a  mistake.  He  had  such  an  exact 
ness  in  discriminating  the  sense  of  words,  and  so  peculiar  a  penetra 
tion  in  seizing  at  once  the  meaning  of  writers,  that  he  never  seemed 
to  learn,  but  only  to  recollect.  Nor  was  it  in  learning  only,  that  Mr. 
Pitt  was  so  superior  to  persons  of  his  age.  Though  a  boy  in  years  and 
appearance,  his  manners  were  formed  and  his  behavior  manly.  He 
mixed  in  conversation  with  unaffected  vivacity,  and  delivered  Ms  sen 
timents  with  perfect  ease,  equally  free  from  shyness  and  flippancy, 
and  always  with  strict  attention  to  propriety  and  decorum. 

While  Mr.  Pitt  was  an  under-graduate,  he  never  omitted  attending 
chapel,  morning  and  evening,  or  dining  in  the  public  hall,  except 
when  prevented  by  indisposition.  Nor  did  he  pass  a  single  evening 
out  of  the  college  walls.  His  sweetness  of  temper  and  vivacity  of 


12  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

lowed  out.  "  To  attempt  putting  another  upon  the  boy, 
will  usually  be  but  labor  in  vain ;  and  what  is  so  plastered 
on  will  at  best  but  set  untowardly ,  and  have  always  hang 
ing  to  it  the  ungracefulness  of  constraint  and  affecta 
tion.  "(2.) 

disposition  endeared  him  to  me  in  a  degree  which  I  should  in  vain 
attempt  to  express. 

"  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  began  to  mix  with  other  young  men  of 
his  age  and  station,  then  resident  at  Cambridge,  and  no  one  was  ever 
more  admired  by  his  acquaintance  and  friends.  He  was  always  the 
most  lively  person  in  company,  abounding  in  playful  wit  and  repartee, 
but  never  known  to  excite  pain  or  give  just  ground  of  offence; 

"  Though  his  society  was  universally  sought,  and  from  the  age  of  sev 
enteen  or  eighteen  he  constantly  passed  his  evenings  in  company,  he 
steadily  avoided  every  species  of  irregularity,  and  he  continued  to  pur 
sue  his  studies  with  ardent  zeal  and  unremitted  diligence  during  his 
•whole  residence  in  the  university.  In  the  course  of  this  time  I  never 
knew  him  to  spend  an  idle  day,  nor  did  he  ever  fail  to  attend  me  at 
the  appointed  hour.  At  this  early  period  there  was  the  same  firm 
ness  of  principle  and  rectitude  of  conduct,  which  marked  his  character 
in  the  more  advanced  stages  of  life." 

(2.)  It  is  said  of  Bacon,  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,—"  While  he 
was  yet  a  child,  the  signs  of  genius,  for  which  he  was  in  after  life 
distinguished,  could  not  have  escaped  the  notice  of  his  intelligent 
parents.  They  nfust  have  been  conscious  of  his  extraordinary  pow 
ers,  and  of  their  responsibility,  that,  upon  the  right  direction  of  his 
mind,  his  future  eminence,  whether  as  a  statesman  or  as  a  philosopher, 
almost  wholly  depended.  In  his  twelfth  year  he  was  meditating  upon 
the  laws  of  the  imagination.  At  thirteen,  he  was  sent,  fully  prepared, 
to  the  University  of  Cambridge.  In  one  of  his  essays,  Bacon  says, 
"  Custom  is  most  perfect  when  it  beginneth  in  young  years  ;  this  is  what 
we  call  education,  which  is,  in  effect,  but  an  early  custom."  And  yet 
this  same  wise  man  says :— "  The  mould  of  a  man's  fortunes  is  in  his 
own  hands." 


CHAPTER   SECOND. 

JEUEMIAH      MASON. 


'  Great  through  sound  sense  and  strong  judgment ; 
Great  by  comprehensive  views  of  things ; 
Great  by  high  and  elevated  purposes." — Daniel  Webster. 


JEREMIAH  MASON  was  by  birth  and  education  a  Con 
necticut  man.  That  little  State  has  been  the  nursery 
from  which  thousands  and  ten  thousands  have  gone  forth, 
to  every  part  of  the  Union,  to  fill  the  high  places  of  the 
land. 

The  ancestors  of  Jeremiah  Mason,  for  several  genera 
tions,  had  resided  in  the  north-east  section  of  that  State, 
and  one  of  his  near  relations  still  owns  the  very  property 
purchased  from  the  Indian  sachem,  Uncas.  It  lies  in 
the  town  of  Lebanon,  in  Windham  county.  There  Jer 
emiah  Mason  was  born,  on  the  27 th  of  April,  1768.  He 
was  the  sixth  of  nine  children.  His  father  was  a  man  of 
"  considerable  opulence,  and  highly  esteemed  by  the  com 
munity."  Moreover,  he  was  a  truly  good  man. 

"  His  mother,"  says  Mr.  Webster,  "  was  distinguish 
ed  for  a  good  understanding,  much  discretion,  the  purity 
2 


14  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

of  her  heart  and  affections,  and  the  exemplary  kindness 
and  benevolence  of  her  life.  It  was  her  great  anxiety 
to  give  all  her  children  the  best  education,  within  the 
means  of  the  family,  which  the  state  of  the  country 
would  allow,  and  she  was  particularly  desirous  that  Jere 
miah  should  be  sent  to  college." 

"  In  my  recollection  of  my  mother,"  says  Mr.  Mason, 
"  she  was  the  personification  of  love,  kindness,  and  be 
nevolence."  Blessed  tribute  of  grateful  memory  from 
such  a  son ! 

At  sixteen  years  of  age,  young  Mason  was  sent  to 
Yale  College,  in  his  native  State,  and  there  was  gradua 
ted  in  1784.  He  received  one  of  the  honors  of  the  class 
and  performed  a  part  in  the  Commencement  exercises, 
which  greatly  raised  the  expectations  of  his  friends,  and 
gratified  and  animated  his  love  for  distinction. 

"  In  the  course  of  a  long  and  active  life,"  says  he,  "  I 
recollect  no  occasion  when  I  have  experienced  such  eleva 
tion  of  feeling." 

Mr.  Mason  was  destined  for  the  law,  and  commenced 
the  study  of  that  profession  with  Mr.  Baldwin,(8.)  at  New 
Haven.  From  thence,  after  a  year,  he  went  to  Vermont, 
and  studied  in  the  office  of  Stephen  Rowe  Bradley. 

(3.)  The  Hon.  Simeon  Baldwin,  of  New  Haven,  "  a  gentleman  who  has 
lived  to  perform  important  public  and  private  duties ;  has  served  his 
country  in  Congress,  and  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Con 
necticut,  and  still  lives  to  hear  the  account  of  the  peaceful  death  of  his 
distinguished  pupil." 


THE    LAWYER.  15 

Having  completed  the  required  course  of  preparatory 
study,  Mr.  Mason  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Vermont 
and  New  Hampshire. 

A  few  miles  below  Walpole,  in  New  Hampshire,  at 
Westmoreland,  he  commenced  practice,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three.  But  Walpole  being  a  larger  village, 
where  he  could  find  congenial  society  and  more  busi 
ness,  he  wisely,  determined  to  remove  to  that  place. 

A  journey  to  Virginia,  at  this  period,-  formed  an  inter 
esting  variety  in  the  life  of  the  young  lawyer.  He  men 
tions  having  been  highly  gratified  with  seeing  Presi 
dent  Washington,  and  was  charmed  by  the  urbanity  and 
dignity  of  his  manner.  He  also  heard  Fisher  Ames  make 
his  celebrated  speech  upon  the  British  Treaty. 

From  Walpob,  Mr.  Mason  removed  to  Portsmouth, 
and  there  his  practice  became  extensive.  A  few  years 
after  his  removal,  he  was  appointed  Attorney- General  of 
the  State  of  New  Hampshire.  Very  much  confined  to 
his  profession,  he  never  sought  office  or  political  elevation. 
Yet  he  was  at  length  persuaded  to  accept  the  post  of  a  Sen 
ator  of  the  United  States,  and  took  his  seat  there  in  June, 
1813.  He  was  at  once  acknowledged  as  holding  a  high 
position  among  the  great  men  who  were  there  assembled. 

But  the  law  was  his  forte,  and  for  that  he  determined 
to  relinquish  political  eminence.  He  resigned  his  seat  in 
the  Senate  in  1817.  In  1832,  Mr.  Mason  removed  to 
Boston. 


16  SUCCESS    IN   X.IFE. 

This  slight  sketch  of  Jeremiah  Mason  has  been  pre 
sented,  merely  as  an  introduction  to  the  character  given 
of  him  by  Mr.  Webster  ;  than  whom,  surely,  no  one 
understands  better,  what  qualifications  make  the  com 
plete  lawyer.  It  should  be  carefully  studied  by  all  who 
aim  at  success  in  the  profession. 

"  The  characteristics  of  Mr.  Mason's  mind,  as  I  think, 
were  real  greatness,  strength,  and  sagacity.  He  was 
great  through  sound  sense  and  sound  judgment.  Great 
by  comprehensive  views  of  things.  Great  by  high  and 
elevated  purposes.  Perhaps  sometimes  he  was  too  cau 
tious  and  refined,  and  his  distinctions  became  too  minute ; 
but  his  discrimination  arose  from  a  force  of  intellect,  and 
quick-seeing,  far-reaching  sagacity,  everywhere  discern 
ing  his  object,  and  pursuing  it  steadily.  Whether  it 
was  popular  or  professional,  he  grasped  a  point  and  held 
it  with  a  firm  hand.  He  was  sarcastic  sometimes,  but 
not  frequently  ;  not  frothy  or  petulant,  but  cool  and 
vitriolic.  Unfortunate  for  him  on  whom  his  sarcasm 
fell. 

"  His  conversation  was  as  remarkable  as  his  efforts  at 
the  bar.  It  was  original,  fresh,  and  suggestive  ;  never 
dull  or  indifferent.  He  never  talked  when  he  had  no 
thing  to  say.  He  was  particularly  agreeable,  edifying, 
and  instructive  to  all  about  him. 

"As  a  professional  man,  Mr.  Mason's  great  ability  lay 
in  the  department  of  the  Common  Law.  In  this  part  of 


THE    LAWYER.  IT 

jurisprudence,  he  was  profoundly  learned.  He  had  drunk 
copiously  from  its  deepest  springs  ;  and  he  had  studied 
with  diligence  and  success  the  departures  from  the  Eng 
lish  Common  Law,  which  had  taken  place  in  this  country, 
either  necessarily,  from  difference  of  condition,  or  posi 
tively,  by  force  of  our  own  statutes.  In  his  addresses, 
both  to  courts  and  juries,  he  affected  to  despise  all  elo 
quence,  and  certainly  disdained  all  ornament ;  but  his  ef 
forts,  whether  addressed  to  one  tribunal  or  the  other,  were 
marked  by  a  degree  of  clearness,  directness,  and  force, 
not  easy  to  be  equalled. 

"  But  political  eminence  and  professional  fame  fade 
away,  and  die  with  all  things  earthly.  Nothing  of  char 
acter  is  really  permanent,  but  virtue  and  personal  worth. 
These  remain.  Whatever  of  excellence  is  wrought  into 
the  soul  itself,  belongs  to  both  worlds.  Real  goodness 
does  not  attach  itself  merely  to  this  life  ;  it  points  to 
another  world.  Political  or  professional  reputation  can 
not  last  forever  ;  but  a  conscience  void  of  offence  before 
God  and  man,  is  an  inheritance  for  eternity.  Religion, 
therefore,  is  a  necessary  and  indispensable  element  in 
any  great  human  character.  There  is  no  living  with 
out  it.  Religion  is  the  tie  that  connects  man  with  his 
Creator,  and  holds  him  to  His  throne.  If  that  tie  be  all 
sundered,  all  broken,  he  floats  away,  a  worthless  atom 
in  the  universe ;  its  proper  attractions  all  gone,  its  des 
tiny  thwarted,  and  its  whole  future  nothing  but  dark- 
2* 


18  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

ness,  desolation,  and  death.  A  man  with  no  sense  of  re 
ligious  duty,  is  he  whom  the  Scriptures  describe — in  such 
terse  but  terrific  manner — as  "  living  without  God  in  the 
world."  Such  a  man  is  out  of  his  proper  being,  out  of 
the  circle  of  all  his  duties,  out  of  the  circle  of  all  his 
happiness,  and  away,  far,  far  away,  from  the  purposes 
of  his  creation. 

"  A  mind  like  Mr.  Mason's — active,  thoughtful,  pene 
trating,  sedate — could  not  but  meditate  deeply  over  the 
condition  of  man  below,  and  feel  its  responsibilities.  He 
could  not  look  on  this  wondrous  frame, 

'  This  universal  frame,  thus  wondrous  fair,' 

without  feeling  that  it  was  created  and  upheld  by  an  In 
telligence,  to  which  all  other  intelligences  must  be  respon 
sible.  I  am  bound  to  say,  that  in  the  course  of  my  life, 
I  never  met  with  an  individual,  in  any  profession  or  con 
dition  of  life,  who  always  spoke,  and  always  thought, 
with  such  awful  reverence  of  the  power  and  presence  of 
God.  No  irreverence,  ro  lightness,  even  no  too  familiar 
allusion  to  God  and  His  attributes,  ever  escaped  his  lips. 
The  very  notion  of  a  Supreme  Being  was,  with  him,  made 
up  of  awe  and  solemnity.  It  filled  the  whole  of  his  great 
mind  with  the  strongest  emotions.  A  man  like  him,  with 
all  his  proper  sentiments  and  sensibilities  alive  in  him, 
must,  in  this  state  of  existence,  have  something  to  be 
lieve,  and  something  to  hope  for  ;  or  else,  as  life  is  ad- 


THE    LAWYER.  19 

vancing  to  its  close  and  parting,  all  is  heart-sinking  and 
oppression.  Depend  upon  it,  whatever  may  be  the  mind 
of  an  old  man,  old  age  is  only  really  happy  when,  on  feel 
ing  the  enjoyments  of  this  world  pass  away,  it  begins  to 
lay  a  stronger  hold  on  those  of  another. 

"  Mr.  Mason's  religious  sentiments  and  feelings  were 
the  crowning  glories  of  his  character. 

"  Mr.  Mason  died  in  old  age,  not  by  a  violent  stroke 
from  the  hand  of  death  ;  not  by  a  sudden  rupture  of  the 
ties  of  nature,  but  by  a  gradual  wearing  out  of  his  con 
stitution.  He  enjoyed  through  life,  indeed,  remarkable 
health.  He  took  competent  exercise,  loved  the  open  air, 
and  avoiding  all  extreme  theories  or  practice,  controlled 
his  habits  of  life  by  the  rules  of  prudence  and  modera 
tion. 

"  His  whole  life,  marked  by  uniform  greatness,  wisdom, 
and  integrity  ;  his  deep  humility,  his  profound  reverence 
for  the  Divine  Majesty,  his  habitual  preparation  for 
death,  his  humble  trust  in  his  Saviour,  left  nothing  to  be 
desired  for  the  consolation  of  his  family  under  this  great 
loss.  He  was  gradually  prepared  for  his  departure. 
His  last  years  were  passed  in  calm  retirement ;  and  he 
died  as  he  wished  to  die, — with  his  faculties  unimpaired, 
without  great  pain,  his  family  around  his  bed,  and  the 
precious  promises  of  the  Gospel  before  his  mind." 

Here  is,  indeed,  a  character  suited  for  the  young 
man's  model.  Trace  its  lineaments,  as  drawn  by  the 


20  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

hand  of  a  master.  Ponder  upon  it,  analyze  it,  for  it 
bear  the  nicest  scrutiny.  (4.)  It  will  demonstrate  to  you 
that  a  lawyer,  in  spite  of  his  peculiar  temptations,  may 
be  a  truly  religious  man,  and  be  acknowledged  as  such 
by  the  whole  community. 

Chief  Justice  Shaw  recommends  the  character  of  Mr. 
Mason,  as  "an  example  to  all  those  young  men  who  take 
upon  themselves  the  responsibilities,  and  aspire  to  the 
honors  of  the  legal  profession. 

'"It  is  true,"  he  says,  "that  every  one  cannot  feel 
assured  of  the  eminent  natural  gifts  which  characterized 
Mr.  Mason's  mind ;  but  all  can  imitate  the  patient  study, 
the  industrious  investigation,  the '  unshaken  integrity, 
and  conscientious  fidelity  which  prominently  marked  the 
career  of  this  eminent  Jurist." 


(4.) "  The  truest  admiration  is  that  by  which  we  receive  other  minds 
into  our  own." 


CHAPTER  THREE. 

SELF-CONFIDENCE. 

"  Things  out  of  hope  are  compassed  oft  with  venturing." — Shakspeare. 

"The  grand  practical  question  is,  how  we  are  to  avoid  the  darkness  and  the  desert, 
and  take  our  portion  in  the  fair  and  fertile.  Is  there  a  lot  cast  for  us,  in  this  matter,  or 
is  it  onr  own  doing?" 

"So  build  we  up  the  being  that  we  are." — Wordsworth. 

WHEN  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  in  a  meditative  mood, 
scribbled  the  line,  "  I  would  climb,  but  fear  to  fall,"  he 
was,  doubtless,  "  screwing  his  courage  to  the  sticking- 
place."  His  royal  mistress  added,  "  Then  why  attempt 
to  climb  at  all  V9  This  taunt  stung  him  to  the  quick ; 
his  wavering  self-confidence  was  restored  and  permanently 
fixed. 

Disappointments  throw  weak  minds  off  their  balance  ; 
the  strong  and  the  wise  perceive  that  they  are  from 
without,  and  make  use  of  them  for  their  own  advantage. 
Instead  of  continuing  under  the  dark  and  sullen  clouds  of 
discontent,  they  emerge  into  clearer  light,  and  go  on 
with  more  cheerful  alacrity.  It  has  sometimes  been 
remarked,  that  great  occasions  produce  great  men.  Not 
so ;  the  great  men  already  are  such ;  they  only  want 
occasions  to  call  forth  their  talents.  Give  them  a  fair 


22  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

field,  and  the  confidence  which  belongs  to  true  greatness 
will  enable  them  to  prove  their  strength. 

There  is  an  immense  difference  between  self-confidence 
and  self-conceit.  When  the  young  artist  Corregio  first 
saw  the  beautiful  paintings  of  Raphael,  and  exclaimed, 
"  I,  too,  am  a  painter,"  it  was  not  arrogant  self-con 
ceit,  it  was  the  consciousness  of  similar  power. 

Admiral  Nelson  was  exceedingly  piqued,  when  he  was 
a  young  man,  because  he  was  not  mentioned  in  a  news 
paper  paragraph,  in  which  an  action  was  briefly  de 
scribed,  where  he  had  been  present.  "  Never  mind," 
said  he,  "  I  will  one  day  have  a  Gazette  of  my  own." 
The  consciousness  of  courage  and  naval  skill  prompted 
this  proud  resolution.  Self-conceit  is  a  wren  in  peacock's 
feathers ;  self-confidence,  the  soaring  eagle.  You  may 
have  been  puffed  up  into  overweening  conceit  of  your 
self  by  the  flattery  of  others,  but  nothing  excepting  the 
internal  conviction  of  power,  can  give  you  self-confidence. 

"  I  have  read  in  some  marvelous  story, 
Sone  legend  strange  and  vague," 

of  a  man  who  was  cast  upon  a  desert  island,  among  a 
people  who  had  lost  their  king.  The  story  says  not  how 
he  became  a  runaway ;  but  when  the  people  saw  the 
stranger,  they  fancied  he  was  their  sovereign,  and  im 
mediately  placed  the  glittering  crown  upon  his  brow, 
and  the  golden  sceptre  in  his  hand. 

"  Uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a  crown." 


THE    LAWYER.  23 

The  head  of  the  hapless  runaway  must,  indeed,  have 
been  uneasy,  and  the  hand  that  had  lately  held  the 
plough,  or  grasped  the  blacksmith's  hammer,  must  have 
trembled,  as  it  lifted  the  sceptre. 

Many  a  time  and  oft  would  he  have  relinquished 
these  emblems  of  power,  and  with  them  the  greatness  that 
had  been  thrust  upon  him.  But  no ;  he  was  their  king, 
and  a  king  he  must  remain. 

In  a  similar  condition,  many  a  lawyer  has  found  him 
self  ;  too  late,  he  has  discovered  that  neither  by  nature 
nor  by  education  was  he  fitted  for  the  profession  which 
he  had  chosen,  or,  still  more  unfortunately,  that  which 
had  been  forced  upon  him. 

It  is  a  mistake,  fraught  with  direful  consequences,  that 
a  man  can  only  be  respectable  or  distinguished,  by  be 
longing  to  one  of  "  the  learned  professions.'' 

"  As  for  the  honor  of  different  vocations,  there  never 
was  a  truer  sentence  than  the  stale  one  of  Pope — stale 
now,  because  it  is  so  true — 

'  Act  well  your  part,  there  all  the  honor  lies.' 

And  it  is  the  just  boast  of  our  own  country,  that  in  no 
civilized  nation  is  the  force  of  this  philanthropic  maxim 
so  nobly  illustrated  as  in  ours — thanks  to  our  glorious 
institutions." 

"  When  the  celebrated  Gouverneur  Morris  left  college, 
he  lost  no  time  in  deliberating  on  the  choice  of  a  profes- 


24  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

sion,  for  he  seems  to  have  destined  himself  for  the  law, 
from  the  time  of  his  first  reflections  on  the  subject.  His 
ancestors  had  gained  renown  in  this  career,  and  it  was 
natural  that  his  inclination  should  lead  him  in  the  same 
direction.  He  knew,  moreover,  that  his  success  in  life, 
his  fortune  and  fame,  his  future  usefulness  and  consider 
ation,  depended  upon  his  own  efforts. 

"  Naturally  active,  sanguine  in  his  temperament,  con 
scious  of  his  powers,  and  not  wanting  in  ambition,  he 
had  an  early  and  continued  confidence  in  himself ]  which 
enabled  him  to  command  all  the  resources  of  his  mind, 
and  to  convert  them,  on  any  given  occasion,  to  the  best 
account.  In  fact,  this  self-confidence  was  one  of  the  re 
markable  features  of  his  character  through  life,  and 
perhaps  its  tendency  was  rather  to  err  on  the  side  of 
boldness  and  presumption,  than  on  that  of  timidity  and 
reserve.  But  there  are  few  more  enviable  qualities  of  the 
understanding,  than  the  power  of  ascertaining  its  own  bias 
and  strength,  and  of  causing  these  to  unite  and  co-oper 
ate  in  the  attainment  of  a  difficult  object.  No  man 
had  this  power  in  a  greater  degree  than  Gouverneur 
Morris,  nor  exercised  it  with  more  skill  and  effect.  He 
has  often  been  heard  to  say,  that  in  his  intercourse  with 
men,  he  never  knew  the  sensation  of  fear  or  inferiority, 
of  embarrassment  or  awkwardness.  Although  this  al 
most  daring  self-possession,  which  never  forsook  him, 
may,  at  times,  have  deprived  his  manners  of  the  charm 


THE    LAWYER.  25 

which  a  becoming  diffidence  and  gentleness  of  demeanor 
are  apt  to  infuse,  yet  as  a  means  of  advancement  in  the 
world,  it  must  be  allowed,  when  properly  regulated,  to 
take  the  precedence  of  every  other  quality."  .  . 

Self-depreciation  is  not  humility,  though  often  mis 
taken  for  it.  Its  source  is  oftener  mortified  pride. 

Self-confidence  must  have  its  foundation  in  self-knowl 
edge.  A  proper,  a  just  estimate  of  one's  abilities,  alone 
can  ensure  that  confidence,  which  is  neither  arrogant  nor 
presumptuous. 

It  might  have  been  supposed  by  some  persons,  who 
were  contemporaneous  with  the  poet  Milton,  that  he  pos 
sessed  an  arrogant  confidence  in  his  own  genius ;  but  time, 
the  best  test,  has  proved  that  he  did  not  overestimate  his 
abilities. 

He  says,  "  These  abilities,  wheresoever  they  be  found, 
are  the  inspired  gift  of  God,  rarely  bestowed."  Yet  so 
conscious  was  he  of  the  "  gift,"  that  he  deems  himself 
prepared  for  a  "  work,"  "  not  to  be  raised  from  the 
heat  of  youth,  or  the  vapors  of  wine,  like  that  which  flows 
at  waste  from  the  pen  of  some  vulgar  amourist,  or  the 
trencher  fury  of  a  rhyming  parasite,  nor  to  be  obtained 
by  the  invocation  of  dame  Memory  and  her  seven  daugh 
ters,  but  by  devout  prayer  to  that  Eternal  Spirit,  who 
can  enrich  with  all  utterance  and  knowledge,  and  sends 
out  his  seraphim,  with  the  hallowed  fire  of  his  altar,  to 
touch  and  purify  the  lips  of  whom  he  pleases." 
3 


26  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

But,  notwithstanding  this  consciousness  of  power,  and 
this  acknowledgment  of  the  source  from  which  it  was  de 
rived,  did  Milton  expect  success,  without  vigorous  effort 
on  his  own  part  ?  No  ;  read,  young  man,  for  your  spe 
cial  benefit,  what  he  says  of  his  mode  of  life.  "  My 
morning  haunts  are  where  they  should  be,  at  home  ;  not 
sleeping,  or  concocting  the  surfeits  of  an  irregular  feast, 
but  up  and  stirring ;  in  winter,  often  ere  the  sound  of 
any  bell  awake  men  to  labor  or  devotion  ;  in  summer,  as 
oft  with  the  bird  that  first  rouses,  or  not  much  tardier, 
to  read  good  authors,  or  cause  them  to  be  read  till  the 
attention  be  weary,  or  memory  have  its  full  freight ; 
then,  with  useful  and  generous  labors,  preserving  the 
body's  health  and  hardiness,  to  render  lightsome,  clear, 
and  not  lumpish  obedience  to  the  mind,  to  the  cause  of 
religion,  and  our  country's  liberty." 

Sic  iter  ad  astra. 

The  self-confidence  which  accomplishes  the  end  de 
signed,  success,  is  not  founded  upon  self-partiality,  or  self- 
exaggeration — but  upon  true,  consistent  self-knowledge, 
and  self-respect. 


CHAPTER   FOURTH. 

JOHN   JAY. 

"The  law 
Whereof  yon  are  a  well-deserving  pillar." 

A  NAME  has  oftentimes  had  an  influence  on  the 
choice  of  a  profession.  That  distinguished  and  excellent 
lawyer,  John  Jay,  of  New  York,  was  named  after  the 
Hon.  John  Chambers,  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  Province.  There  is  nothing  distinctive  in 
the  name  John,  but  being  thus  called  as  the  namesake  of 
a  great  man,  should  excite  an  earnest  desire  to  sustain  the 
reputation  which  another  has  fairly  earned.  This  seems 
to  have  been  an  incitement  to  John  Jay.  But  a  still 
more  decided  and  effective  influence  than  that  of  a  name 
was  exercised  upon  the  opening  mind  of  John  Jay. 

"  Peter  Jay  had  ten  children ;  John  was  his  eighth 
child,  and  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  12th 
of  December,  1T45.  The  character  of  his  parents  was  a 
theme  on  which  their  son  John  delighted  to  converse  ;  for  ^§| 
seldom  have  parents  been  so  loved  and  reverenced  as  they 
were  by  him.  Both  father  and  mother  were  actuated  by 


28  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

sincere  and  "fervent  piety.  The  father  possessed  strong 
masculine  sense — was  a  shrewd  observer  and  admirable 
judge  of  men;  resolute,  persevering,  and  prudent;  an 
affectionate  father,  a  kind  master,  but  governing  all  under 
his  control  with  mild  but  absolute  sway. 

"  The  mother  had  a  cultivated  mind  and  fine  imagina 
tion,  and  was  mild  and  affectionate  in  her  temper  and 
manners ;  a  cheerful  resignation  to  the  will  of  Providence, 
during  many  years  of  sickness  and  suffering,  bore  witness 
to  the  strength  of  her  religious  faith.  Two  of  the 
children,  a  son  and  a  daughter,  were  attacked  in  their 
infancy  by  small-pox,  and  were  deprived  of  sight  by 
this  formidable  disease.  It  was  thought  that  the  two 
little  sufferers  could  be  brought  up  more  safely  and  ad 
vantageously  in  the  country  than  the  city.  For  this 
purpose  the  father  purchased  a  farm  at  Rye,  on  the 
shores  of  Long  Island  Sound,  whither  he  removed  his 
family,  while  John  was  still  in  the  nurse's  arms. 

"  Notwithstanding  the  cares  of  a  large  family,  the  mo 
ther  devoted  much  of  her  time  to  the  instruction  of  the 
two  blind  children,  and  the  little  John.  To  the  former 
she  read  the  best  authors,  to  the  latter  she  taught  the 
rudiments  *of  English,  and  the  Latin  grammar.  When 
John  was  between  six  and  seven  years  old,  his  father, 
%iwriting  about  him,  remarked,  '  Johnny  is  of  a  very  grave 
disposition,  and  takes  to  learning  exceedingly  well.  He 
will  soon  be  fit  to  go  to  grammar  school.' 


THE    LAWYER.  29 

"  When  eight  years  old,  he  was  sent  to* a  grammar 
school  at  New  Rochelle,  kept  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stoope, 
pastor  of  the  French  Church.  His  character,  even  at 
this  early  age,  seems  to  have  been  sufficiently  marked  to 
excite  the  favorable  anticipations  of  his  discerning  father, 
who,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  observed,  '  I  cannot  forbear 
taking  the  freedom  of  hinting  to  you,  that  my  Johnny 
gives  me  a  very  pleasing  prospect.  He  seems  to  be  en 
dowed  with  a  very  good  capacity — is  very  reserved,  and 
quite  of  his  brother  James's  disposition  for  books.' 

"  The  gentleman,  to  whose  charge  he  was  now  committed, 
was  a  native  of  Switzerland,  and  of  odd  habits,  ignorant 
of  the  world,  regardless  of  money,  and  remarkable  for 
absence  of  mind  ;  he  devoted  every  moment  of  leisure  to 
his  studies,  particularly  to  the  mathematics,  leaving  the 
undisputed  government  of  himself  and  his  household  to 
his  wife,  who  was  as  penurious  as  he  was  careless.  The 
parsonage,  and  everything  about  it,  was  suffered  to  decay ; 
and  the  boys  were  treated  with  little  food  and  much 
scolding.  John  contrived  to  prevent  the  snow  from 
drifting  upon  his  bed,  by  closing  the  broken  panes  of 
glass  with  pieces  of  wood.  The  contrast  between  such 
lodgings,  and  such  treatment,  and  that  to  which  he  was 
accustomed  at  home,  was  not  pleasing,  but  not  without 
its  uses.  The  plain  and  simple  diet  to  which  he  was 
confined,  led  to  that  indifference  to  the  quality  of  his 
food  for  which,  through  life,  he  was  remarkably  distin- 


30  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

guished,  while  his  constitution,  no  doubt,  derived  addi 
tional  strength  and  vigor  from  the  hardships  to  which  he 
was  exposed.  His  health  was  robust,  and  in  after  life 
he  used  to  mention  the  pleasure  he  at  this  time  enjoyed 
in  roaming  through  the  woods  and  gathering  nuts,  which 
he  carried  home  in  his  stockings,  which  he  stripped  off 
for  the  purpose. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  village  of  New  Rochelle  were 
chiefly  descendants  of  French  refugees,  and  French  was 
spoken  by  them  as  well  as  at  the  parsonage,  and  John 
thus  acquired,  with  little  trouble,  a  language  for  which  he 
afterward  had  so  much  use.  He  remained  at  this  school 
three  years,  when  his  father  took  him  home  and  placed 
him  under  the  instruction  of  a  private  tutor,  who  com 
pleted  his  preparation  for  college. 

At  the  early  age  of  fourteen  John  Jay  entered  Co 
lumbia  College,  in  New  York,  then  called  King's  Col 
lege.  The  President  was  the  excellent  Dr.  Samuel 
Johnson. 

The  young  freshman  was  now  suddenly  introduced  to  a 
scene  entirely  new  to  him,  and  was  thrown  among  com 
panions  of  various  dispositions  and  habits,  without  any 
other  guide  or  monitor  than  his  own  good  sense  and 
virtue.  His  intercourse  with  others  made  him  sensible 
of  his  own  deficiencies,  and  he  commenced  the  work  of 
correcting  them  with  a  resolution  and  perseverance 
not  often  accomplished  in  early  youth.  His  artic- 


THE    LAWYER.  31 

ulation  was  indistinct,  and  his  mode  of  pronouncing  the 
letter  £  L,'  exposed  him  to  ridicule.  He  purchased  a 
book  written  by  Sheridan,  probably  his  c  Lectures  on 
Elocution,'  and  shutting  himself  up  daily  in  his  room, 
studied  the  rules,  and  practiced  upon  them,  till  his  object 
was  accomplished." 

He  had,  moreover,  a  habit  of  reading  so  rapidly,  as  to 
be  understood  with  difficulty.  For  the  purpose  of  cor 
recting  this  fault,  he  read  aloud  to  himself,  making  a  full 
stop  after  every  word,  until  he  had  acquired  the  com 
plete  control  of  his  voice,  and  he  thus  became  an  ex 
cellent  reader. 

With  the  same  energy  he  pursued  all  his  studies,  and 
especially  English  composition.  So  intent  was  he  upon 
this,  that  when  about  to  write  an  English  exercise,  he 
placed  paper  and  pencil  by  his  bedside,  that  if,  while 
meditating  upon  his  subject  in  the  night,  a  valuable  idea 
occurred  to  him,  he  might  make  some  note  of  it,  even  in 
the  dark,  that  might  recall  it  in  the  morning.  His  ap 
plication  and  correct  deportment  acquired  for  him  the 
esteem  and  friendship  of  the  President. 

At  the  Commencement  exercises,  the  Latin  Salutatory 
Oration  was  considered  the  highest  honor,  and  this  was 
spoken,  in  the  year  1T64,  by  John  Jay. 

But,  while  yet  in  college,  he  decided  upon  a  profession, 
and  commenced  reading  law  with  one  of  his  fellow- 
students.  Two  weeks  after  he  was  graduated,  he  entered 


32  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

the  office  of  Benjamin  Kissam,  Esq. ,(5.)  of  New  York, 
as  a  student  at  law. 

After  Mr.  Jay  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  it  sometimes 
happened  that  he  was  engaged  on  the  opposite  side  to  Mr. 
Kissam.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  the  latter  being  em 
barrassed  by  some  position  taken  by  the  other,  pleasant 
ly  remarked  in  court,  that  he  had  brought  up  a  bird  to 
pick  out  his  own  eyes.  "  Oh  no,"  retorted  his  opponent, 
"  not  to  pick  out,  but  to  open  your  eyes." 

Mr.  Jay  married  Sarah,  the  youngest  daughter  of 
Governor  Livingston,  of  New  Jersey,  a  zealous  and  dis 
tinguished  patriot  of  the  Revolution. 

The  Revolution  was  an  interruption  to  Jay's  legal 
pursuits.  He  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  from  the  city  and  county  of  New  York.  This 
Congress  met  at  Philadelphia,  as  every  American  knows, 


(5.)  Lindley  Murray,  afterward  distinguished  by  his  various  works 
on  grammar  and  elocution,  was  at  this  time  a  student  in  the  same 
office.  In  a  short  memoir  of  himself,  published  after  his  death,  lie 
paid  the  following  tribute  to  his  early  companion  : — "  The  celebrated 
John  Jay,  Esq.,  late  Governor  of  New  York,  was  my  fellow-student 
for  about  two  years.  His  talents  and  virtues  gave  at  that  period 
pleasing  indications  of  future  eminence.  He  was  remarkable  for 
strong  reasoning  powers,  comprehensive  views,  indefatigable  application, 
and  uncommon  firmness  of  mind.  With  these  qualifications,  added  to 
a  just  taste  in  literature,  and  ample  stores  of  learning  and  knowledge, 
he  was  happily  prepared  to  enter  on  that  career  of  public  virtue  by 
which  he  was  honorably  distinguished,  and  made  instrumental  in  pro 
moting  the  good  of  his  country." 


THE    LAWYER.  33 

in  1774.  Mr.  Jay  was  perhaps  the  youngest  member  of 
the  House,  being  then  in  his  twenty-ninth  year. 

a  Notwithstanding  his  youth,  he  was  placed  on  a  com 
mittee  for  drafting  an  address  to  the  people  of  Great  Brit 
ain,  and  a  memorial  to  the  people  of  British  America. 
The  address  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain  was  drawn 
up  by  Mr.  Jay,  and  adopted  by  Congress.  Mr.  Jefler- 
son,  while  ignorant  of  the  author,  declared  it  to  be  a  pro 
duction  certainly  of  the  finest  pen  in  America. " 

Mr.  Jay  from  this  time  devoted  himself  to  the  service 
of  his  country,  in  the  field  and  in  the  cabinet,  until  the 
termination  of  the  eventful  struggle  for  liberty. 

Mr.  Jay  was  chosen  Chief  Justice  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  immediately  after  its  organization  as  a  State, 
an  office  which  he  found  incompatible  with  other  duties, 
and  resigned  it. 

He  was  afterward  sent  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to 
Spain ;  then  on  a  mission  to  France ;  and  later,  as  Envoy 
to  England.  Under  Washington's  administration,  Mr. 
Jay  officiated  for  a  time  as  Secretary  of  State ;  and  when 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  was  organized, 
he  was  appointed  Chief  Justice.  Subsequently,  he  was 
chosen  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  late 
in  life,  President  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 

It  may  seem  that  Mr.  Jay  might,  with  more  propriety,  be 
called  a  statesman  than  a  lawyer  ;  but  the  law  was  his 
profession,  as  it  has  been  that  of  the  many  who  have  taken  a 


34  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

part  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  or  represented  it  abroad. 
His  character  well  deserves  careful  study — that  noble 
character  which  gave  him  a  title  to  those  honors  which 
encouraged  his  youth  and  adorned  his  age.  It  is  a  stimu 
lating  example  for  all  whom  Hope  beckons  on  to  suc 
cess. 

The  character  of  John  Jay  is  simple  and  uniform  ;  it 
is  perplexed  by  no  eccentricities  or  contradictions.  His 
public  and  his  private  life,  his  professions  and  his  con 
duct,  form  one  harmonious  whole.  Endowed  by  his  Cre 
ator  with  a  vigorous  mind,  a  sound  judgment,  and  a  pi 
ous  heart,  he  pursued  right  objects  ;  selected  his  means 
with  an  almost  intuitive  perception  of  their  fitness,  and 
used  them  with  a  prudence  that  rarely  failed  to  ensure 
success.  Formed  by  nature  with  that  irritability  of  tem 
per  which  is  so  often  at  once  the  attendant  and  the  bane 
of  genius,  he  acquired  a  degree  of  equanimity  seldom 
attained  by  any. 

Although  warm,  constant,  and  disinterested  in  his 
friendships,  he  indulged  no  feelings  of  hostility  toward 
those  who  attempted  to  injure  him ;  and  no  act  of  his  life 
is  known  that  indicated  a  desire  for  revenge.  He  was, 
however,  free  from  that  weak  confidence  which  too  often 
makes  well-disposed  men  the  dupes  of  artifice  and  malice. 
Having  once  had  good  cause  to  doubt  a  man's  sincerity 
or  integrity,  he  never  after  trusted  him.  "  Separate  your 
self  from  your  enemies,"  was  the  rule  by  which  he  regu- 


THE    LAWYER.  35 

lated  his  conduct  toward  those  who  wished  him  ill ;  and 
in  the  whole  course  of  his  life  he  never  deserted  a  friend 
nor  courted  an  enemy. 

A  sense  of  future  accountability  seems  to  have  been 
always  present  to  his  mind,  and  he  esteemed  the  sentence 
his  fellow-men  might  pass  upon  him,  when  compared  with 
the  realities  of  the  judgment-day,  as  the  dust  of  the 
balance. 

Few  could  claim  a  more  entire  exemption  from  the  sins 
comprehended  in  the  lust  of  the  eyes  and  the  pride  of 
life.  Although  for  many  years  filling  stations  which  ne 
cessarily  brought  him  into  constant  intercourse  with  the 
rich  and  the  fashionable,  his  dress,  furniture,  and  equi 
page  were  always  as  plain  and  frugal  as  propriety  would 
permit.  As  a  republican,  he  thought  it  became  him  to 
set  an  example  of  plainness  and  simplicity ;  *as  a  Chris 
tian,  he  acknowledged  the  obligation  to  be  temperate  in 
all  things.  But  his  frugality  had  nothing  in  common 
with  parsimony.  "  A  wise  man,"  he  said,  "  has  money 
in  his  head,  but  not  in  his  heart."  His  contributions  to 
the  ever-varying  calls  of  religion  and  benevolence  were 
cheerful  and  generous.  It  was  a  favorite  saying  with 
him,  that  ostentation  and  rapacity  go  together.  He  was 
liberal  in  all  his  contracts,  acting  on  the  maxim  that  no 
hard  bargain  is  a  good  one.  To  his  poor  neighbors  he 
often  made  loans  without  interest,  and  when  payment 
could  not  be  exacted  except  by  distressing  them,  he  for- 


36  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

gave  the  debt,  and  to  his  bounty  were  they  frequently  in 
debted  for  food,  clothing,  and  medical  attendance. 

A  distinguishing  trait  in  Mr.  Jay's  character  was  mod 
esty  ;  not  an  affectation  of  inferiority  to  others,  or  a  dis 
trust  of  his  own  powers,  but  a  total  absence  of  all  en 
deavor  to  attract  admiration.  He  assumed  no  impor 
tance,  claimed  no  deference,  and  boasted  of  no  merit. 
He  had  had  full  experience  of  the  pleasures  and  the  pains 
of  public  life,  and  his  advice  to  his  sons  was,  never  to  ac 
cept  an  office,  except  from  a  conviction  of  duty. 

His  patriotism,  prompted  and  guided  by  the  precepts 
of  Christianity,  ever  refused  to  make  the  smallest  sacrifices 
of  truth  or  justice  to  the  cause  of  his  country,  while  for 
the  same  object  it  was  always  ready  to  surrender  what 
ever  else  was  most  dear  to  him.  Much  as  he  loved 
his  country*  he  spurned  the  principle  implied  in  the 
sentiment, — "  Our  country,  right  or  wrong ;"  and  on 
all  occasions,  public  as  well  as  private,  inflexibly  ad 
hered  to  the  maxim  that  honesty  is  the  best  policy. 

Mr.  Jay's  religion  was  fervent,  but  mild  and  unosten 
tatious.  Through  life  he  continued  a  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Church. 

On  the  whole,  his  life  exhibits  a  rare  but  interesting 
picture  of  the  Christian  patriot  and  statesman,  and  justi 
fies  the  universal  reverence  for  his  character  so  eloquent 
ly  described  in  an  address  delivered,  soon  after  his  death, 
by  G.  C.  Verplanck?  Esq. 


THE    LAWYER.  3V 

"  A  halo  of  veneration  seemed  to  encircle  him  as  one 
belonging  to  another  world,  though  lingering  among  us. 
When  the  tidings  of  his  death  came  to  us,  they  were  re 
ceived  through  the  nation,  not  with  sorrow  or  mourning, 
but  with  solemn  awe,  like  that  with  which  we  read  the 
mysterious  passage  of  ancient  Scripture,- — '  AND  ENOCH 

WALKED    WITH  GoD,  AND  HE    WAS  NOT,  FOR  GOD  TOOK 


CHAPTER    FIFTH. 

UNITY    OF'PURPOSE. 

JOHN    MARSHALL. 


"  Reason  frowns  on  him  who  wastes  that  reflection  on  a  destiny  independent  of  him 
self,  which  he  ought  to  reserve  for  actions  of  which  he  is  master."— Sir  Jas.  Mclntosh. 

"  Whoever  is  not  forced  by  necessity,  but  feels  within  him,  growing  with  his  growth, 
an  inclination  as  true  and  unvarying  as  the  maguetic  needle,  let  him  follow  its  pointing, 
trusting  to  it  as  a  compass  in  the  desert." 


THE  power  of  concentrating  thought,  or  what  the 
phrenologists  call  concentrativeness,  is  a  primary  requi 
site  for  an  able  lawyer.  Without  it,  he  may  become  an 
eloquent  orator  and  a  persuasive  pleader,  but  not  a  con 
vincing  advocate,  nor  a  wise  counselor.  In  addition  to 
this  intellectual  faculty,  he  must  possess  an  indomitable 
will — a  will,  irresistible  as  the  lightning  which  splits 
"  the  gnarled,  unwedgeable  oak,"  and  constant  as  the  at 
traction  of  gravitation. 

The  recklessness  with  which  young  men  squander  the 
glorious  talents  with  which  they  have  been  endowed  by 
the  Creator  is  marvelous, — pitiful.  Instead  of  a  fixed, 


THE    LAWYER.  39 

determinate  aim,  toward  which  all  efforts  converge,  they 
try  their  skill,  now  in  this  direction,  and  then  in  one 
diametrically  opposite. (6.)  Gathering  flowers  where  fancy 
leads,  and  laurels  which  will  be  in  "  the  sere  and  yellow 
leaf"  before  the  wearers  have  reached  the  meridian  of 
life,  they  gradually  pass  into  the  shade  of  mediocrity,  and 
their  suns  set  ingloriously. 

Distinction,  in  any  profession,  is  not  the  reward  of 
such  divided  effort.  There  must  be  early,  continuous, 
self-denying  labor.  Without  such  unwearied  application, 
talents  the  most  commanding  will  not  give  the  impulse 
necessary  to  reach  the  aim.  The  sinewy  arm  of  the 
long-practiced  archer  can  only  draw  the  bow  of  Ulysses, 
and  the  calm,  steady  eye  can  only  send  the  arrow  to  the 
mark. 

The  unity  of  purpose,  which  ensures  success,  does  not, 
by  any  means,  reject  those  acquirements  which  are  sec 
ondary  or  subsidiary.  The  old  adage  says,  "  Every 
part  helps  every  other  part."  The  most  eminent  law 
yers  have  not  neglected  mathematical  studies,  nor  the 
cultivation  of  taste,  yet  these  were  subordinates,  and  kept 
their  place  in  the  ranks.* 

A  fine  example  of  the  unity  of  purpose  here  recom 
mended,  is  furnished  by  the  late  Chief  Justice  Marshall. 

(6.)  "  Many  a  man  has  lost  being  a  great  man,  by  splitting  into  two 
middling  ones." 
*  Note  B. 


40  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

There  is  no  denying  it, — Virginia  and  Massachusetts 
grow*  great  men.  Among  Virginia's  noblest  sons  was 
John  Marshall.  How  came  he  to  be  a  great  man  1 

John's  father,  Thomas  Marshall,  was  a  planter ;  not  a 
rich  planter,  but  a  man  of  moderate  fortune.  A  lim 
ited  education,  even  for  the  times  in  which  he  lived, 
was  all  that  the  planter  received ;  and  yet  he  was  a  man 
of  uncommon  ability,  and  made  the  best  possible  use  of 
the  means  afforded  him  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge. 
He  was  a  man  of  strong,  good  sense,  and  commanded 
the  reverence,  and  won  the  confidence  and  affection  of 
his  children. 

John  was  the  eldest  of  fifteen  children.  All  these 
children  were  richly  endowed  with  intellect ;  but  it  was 
a  pleasure  to  this  eldest-born  to  declare,  when  he  stood 
among  the  foremost  men  of  the  country,  that  his  father 
was  superior  to  any  of  his  gifted  sons.  This  he  was 
accustomed  to  say  when  he  was  capable  of  appreciating 
intellectual  character. 

John  was,  literally,  a  backwoodsman,  for  Fauquier 
county  lay  upon  the  western  frontier  of  the  State. 
There  were  no  schools  in  the  neighborhood.  Colonel 
Marshall  taught  his  own  children,  and  thus  gave  their 
infant  minds  such  a  bent  and  inclination  as  suited  his 
own  taste.  Happily  it  was  a  correct  one,  for  no  gnarled 
and  twisted  a  twigs"  seem  to  have  been  the  consequence. 

*  To  grow  wheat,  rice,  (fee.,  is  a  Southern  provincialism. 


THE    LAWYER.  41 

Colonel  Marshall  was  a  devoted  admirer  of  English 
classic  literature.  For  history  and  poetry  especially,  he 
had  a  strong  inclination,  which  John  early  imbibed. 

The  wild  adventure  and  romantic  scenery  of  the  new 
settlements  would  tend  to  excite  the  imagination,  and 
call  out  energy  and  activity.  The  Indians  were  their 
neighbors,  and  might  at  any  time  become  foes.  Inter 
minable  forests  stretched  their  umbrageous  shades  to  the 
far- west.  Mountains  and  ravines,  dark,  unexplored  cav 
erns,  and  foaming  cataracts,  met  the  view  of  the  young 
adventurer. 

"  Genius  is  a  fire  that  is  early  enkindled  in  the  soul." 
There  are  few  great  men  who  have  not  in  early  life 
dallied  with  the  muses. 

Amid  beautiful  scenery,  and  with  the  course  of  read 
ing  which  young  Marshall  pursued,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  there  was  an  early  manifestation  of  poetical  senti 
ment,  and  an  attempt  to  form  "  the  sounding  line." 

"  At  the  age  of  twelve,  John  Marshall  had  transcribed 
Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  and  also  some  of  his  moral  essays. 
The  love  of  poetry,  thus  awakened  in  his  warm  and 
vigorous  mind,  never  ceased  to  exert  a  commanding  in 
fluence  over  it." 

At  the  age  of  fourteen,  John  Marshall  was  sent  from 

home,  and  placed  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Campbell,  a 

respectable  clergyman.      After  remaining  a  year  with 

this  gentleman,  he  returned  to  the  house  of  his  father, 

4* 


42  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

who  had  procured  a  tutor  to  reside  in  his  family.  At 
the  end  of  this  year  he  had  commenced  reading  Horace 
and  Livy.  "  His  subsequent  mastery  of  the  classics 
was  the  result  of  his  own  efforts,  without  any  other  aid 
than  his  grammar  and  dictionary.  He  never  had  the 
benefit  of  an  education  at  any  college,  and  his  attain 
ments  in  learning  were  nursed  by  the  solitary  vigils  of 
his  own  genius.  His  father,  however,  continued  to 
superintend  his  English  education,  to  cherish  his  love  of 
knowledge,  to  give  a  solid  cast  to  his  acquirements,  and 
to  store  his  mind  with  the  most  valuable  materials.  He 
was  not  merely  a  watchful  parent,  but  an  instructive 
and  affectionate  friend,  and  soon  became  the  most  con 
stant,  as  he  was  at  the  time  almost  the  only  intelligent 
companion  of  his  son.  The  time  not  devoted  to  his 
society  was  passed  in  hardy,  athletic  exercises,  and  prob 
ably  to  this  circumstance  was  owing  that  robust  con 
stitution  which  remained  fresh  and  firm  in  a  green  old 
age."(7  ) 

But  the  American  Revolution  came  on,  and  other  in 
terests  were,  for  a  time,  merged  in  that  great  event. 

In  1775,  John  Marshall  was  appointed  first  lieutenant 
in  a  company  of  minutemen,  enrolled  for  actual  service. 
Lieutenant  Marshall  was  engaged  in  the  battle  of  the 
Great  Bridge,  where  the  British  troops,  under  Lord 

(7.)  "  The  body  ought  to  be  the  soul's  best  friend,  and  cordial,  dutiful 
helpmate." 


THE    LAWYER.  43 

Dunmore,  were  repulsed  with  great  gallantry.  In  1777, 
he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain,  and  fought  in 
the  memorable  battles  of  Brandywine,  Germantown,  and 
Monmouth.  During  a  season  of  inaction,  he  attended 
the  law  lectures  of  Mr.  Wythe,  afterward  Chancellor 
of  the  State,  and  a  course  of  lectures  on  natural  philoso 
phy,  given  by  Mr.  Madison,  President  of  William  and 
Mary  College,  Virginia.  After  thus  passing  the  winter 
and  spring  of  1779-80,  in  the  summer  he  obtained  a 
license  to  practice  law.  In  October  he  returned  to  the 
army,  and  continued  in  service  till  the  next  February, 
1781.  These  circumstances  are  dwelt  upon  more  particu 
larly,  to  show  how  few  were  the  advantages  of  education 
received  by  John  Marshall,  compared  with  the  elaborate 
and  finished  education  of  the  present  day.  The  best 
part  of  education,  after  all,  is  that  which  a  man  gives 
himself.  Most  young  men  have  intellectual  power 
enough,  if  constantly  and  effectively  applied,  to  become 
useful  and  highly  respectable  in  their  trade  or  profession. 
The  difficulty  usually  is,  that  they  are  too  weak  of  pur 
pose,  too  fluctuating  and  unsteady  in  their  aims  and 
efforts. (8.)  The  moment  the  leading-strings  of  their 
guardians  and  preceptors  are  loosened,  they  stumble  and 
stagger  under  the  weight  of  responsibility  resting  upon 
them,  and  too  often  fall  by  the  way- side,  weary  with  the 

(8.)  "  II  y  a  cent  bonne  tetes  pour  une  ame  ferme." — Baron  Wessenberg. 


44  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

strife.  Not  so  with  Marshall ;  he  braced  up  strong  sin 
ews  and  steady  nerves  for  mental,  as  he  did  for  physical 
encounter. 

He  rapidly  rose  to  distinction  at  the  bar.  In  the 
spring  of  1782,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State 
Legislature,  and  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Executive  Council. 

In  1783,  he  married  Miss  Ambler ;  a  happy  union, 
which  continued  for  nearly  fifty  years. 

The  dangers  and  difficulties  of  those  days  drew  tal 
ent  of  all  kinds  into  one  channel ;  and  lawyers  were, 
almost  of  necessity,  statesmen.  Although  Marshall 
devoted  time  to  legal  study  and  to  practice,  yet  the 
affairs  of  the  confederacy,  at  this  crisis,  demanded  his 
enlightened  efforts  and  powerful  support.  Dangers  men 
aced  the  infant  republic,  and  Marshall  was  one  of  those 
wise  "  statesmen  who  have  ears  to  hear  the  distant 
rustling  of  the  wings  of  Time.  Most  people  only  catch 
sight  of  Time  when  it  is  flying  away.  When  it  is  over 
head,  it  darkens  their  view."  After  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  some  of  the  leading 
features  of  which  Marshall  had  eloquently  and  power 
fully  advocated,  he  determined  to  relinquish  public  life, 
and  to  devote  himself  exclusively  to  his  chosen  profes 
sion.  But,  having  been  unanimously  elected  a  represen 
tative  to  the  State  Legislature  by  the  citizens  of  Richmond, 
he  reluctantly  yielded  to  the  earnest  wishes  of  his  con- 


THE    LAWYER.  45 

stituents.  For  three  successive  years  he  continued  in 
the  Legislature,  and  then  declined  a  re-election.  But 
again  he  was  induced,  at  a  trying  period  in  the  history 
of  Virginia,  to  become  one  of  her  legislators. 

President  Washington  requested  Marshall  to  accept 
the  office  of  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  but 
he  declined  it,  upon  the  ground  of  its  interference  with  his 
lucrative  practice  in  Virginia.  He  was  also  solicited  by 
Washington  to  accept  the  place  of  Minister  to  France, 
which  he  respectfully  declined.  He  afterward  accepted 
the  appointment  of  Envoy  to  Amsterdam,  in  conjunction 
with  General  Pinckney  and  Mr.  Gerry.  Upon  him 
principally  devolved  the  duty  of  preparing  the  official 
dispatches.  "  They  are  models  of  skillful  reasoning, 
forcible  illustration,  accurate  detail,  and  urbane  and  dig 
nified  moderation." 

On  his  return  home,  Mr.  Marshall  resumed  his  pro 
fessional  labors  with  high  hopes,  for  he  had  lost  few 
clients  during  his  absence,  and  new  ones  were  daily 
added  to  the  list.  He  peremptorily  refused  to  become  a 
candidate  for  Congress  for  a  while ;  yet,  he  could  not 
turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  urgent  entreaty  of  one  whose 
persuasive  arguments  were  seldom  resisted.  General 
Washington  invited  Mr.  Marshall  to  pass  a  few  days  at 
Mount  Vernon,  whither  he  went  in  company  with  Mr. 
Justice  Washington. 

Washington  did  not  for  a  moment  disguise  the  object 


46  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

of  his  invitation.  It  was  to  urge  upon  Mr.  Marshall  and 
Mr.  Washington  the  propriety  of  their  becoming  candi 
dates  for  Congress.  Mr.  Washington  yielded  to  the 
wishes  of  his  uncle,  without  a  struggle ;  but  Mr.  Mar 
shall  resisted,  on  the  ground  of  his  situation,  and  the 
necessity  of  attending  to  his  private  affairs. 

General  Washington  said,  that  u  there  were  crises  in 
national  affairs  which  made  it  the  duty  of  a  citizen  to 
forego  his  private  for  the  public  interest.  He  considered 
the  country  to  be  then  in  one  of  these." 

The  conversation  was  long,  animated,  and  impressive, 
full  of  the  deepest  interest,  and  the  most  unreserved  confi 
dence.  It  had  its  effect.  Mr.  Marshall  became  a  can 
didate,  and  was  elected  to  Congress.  Before  his  election 
he  was  offered  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
by  President  Adams.  This  he  declined,  and  Mr.  Bush- 
rod  Washington  was  appointed.  In  May,  1800,  Mr. 
Marshall  was  nominated  by  the  President  to  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  War.  In  1801,  he  became  Chief  Justice 
of  the  United  States — an  office  which,  by  many,  is  con 
sidered  the  highest  in  our  country. 

"  The  fame  of  the  warrior(9.)  is  forever  embodied  in  the 
history  of  his  country,  and  is  colored  with  the  warm 
lights  reflected  back  by  the  praise  of  many  a  distant  age. 
The  orator  and  the  statesman  live  not  merely  in  the  rec- 

(9.)  "The  greatness  of  the  warrior  is  poor  and  low  compared  with 
the  magnanimity  of  virtue." 


THE    LAWYER.  47 

ollections  of  their  powerful  eloquence,  or  the  deep  im 
pressions  made  by  them  on  the  character  of  the  genera 
tion  in  which  they  lived,  but  are  brought  forth  for  public 
approbation  in  political  debates,  in  splendid  volumes,  in 
collegiate  declamations,  in  the  works  of  rhetoricians,  in 
the  school-books  of  boys,  and  in  the  elegant  extracts  of 
after  life." 

"  The  place  of  justice,"  says  Lord  Bacon,  "  is  a  hal 
lowed  place,"  and  he  who  holds  that  place  and  there  sus 
tains  the  majesty  of  the  law,  is  to  be  venerated  from  age 
to  age.  In  the  character  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall, 
moderation  was  united  with  firmness,  sagacity  with  mod 
esty,  learning  with  experience  and  solid  wisdom. 

"  What,  indeed,  strikes  us  as  most  remarkable  in  his 
whole  character,  even  more  than  his  splendid  talents,  is 
the  entire  consistency  of  his  public  life  and  principles. 
There  is  nothing  in  either  which  calls  for  apology  or  con 
cealment.  Ambition  never  seduced  him  from  his  princi 
ples,  nor  did  popular  clamor  deter  him  from  the  strict 
performance  of  duty." 

Amid  the  extravagances  of  party  spirit,  he  has  stood 
with  a  calm  and  steady  inflexibility ;  neither  bending  to 
the  pressure  of  adversity,  nor  bounding  with  the  elasti 
city  of  success.  He  has  lived  as  such  a  man  should  live 
(and  yet  how  few  deserve  the  commendation),  by  and 
with  his  principles.  If  we  were-  tempted  to  say  in  one 
word  what  it  was  in  which  he  chiefly  excelled  other  men. 


48  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

we  should  say  in  wisdom  ;  in  the  union  of  that  virtue 
which  has  ripened  under  the  hardy  discipline  of  princi 
ples,  with  that  knowledge  which  has  constantly  sifted 
and  refined  its  old  treasures,  and  as  constantly  gathered 
new." 

"  Interesting  as  it  is  to  contemplate  such  a  man  in  his 
public  character  and  official  functions, — there  are  few 
great  men  to  whom  one  is  brought  near,  however  dazzling 
maybe  their  talents  or  actions,  who  are  not  thereby  painful 
ly  diminished  in  the  estimate  of  those  who  approach  them. 
The  jnist  of  distance  sometimes  gives  a  looming  size  to 
their  character,  but  more  often  conceals  its  defects.  To 
be  amiable  as  well  as  great, — to  be  kind,  gentle,  simple, 
modest,  and  social,  and  at  the  same  time  to  possess  the 
rarest  endowments  of  mind,  and  the  warmest  affections, 
is  a  combination  devoutly  to  be  wished,  but  seldom  met. 
Yet  Chief  Justice  Marshall  was  in  the  domestic  circle 
exactly  what  a  wife,  a  child,  a  brother,  and  a  friend 
would  most  desire." 


CHAPTER   SIXTH. 

WILLIAM     PINCKNEY, 

"II  possedait,  au  plus  haut  degre,  ces  facultes  brillantes  qui  president 
aux  arts  d'imagination  mais  qui  constituent  aussi,  ou  qui  fecondent  1'esprit 
d'invention,  danstous  les  genres ;  cette  vivacite,  et  cette  energie  de  concep 
tion  qui  rendent  une  nouvelle  vie  aux  objets,  en  les  exprimant,  et  qui  les 
embelliscnt  encore,  en  les  faisant  revivre.  Toutefois  et  par  une  rencontre 
aussi  heureuse  que  rare,  il  etait  egalement  doue  do  ces  qualites  eminentes, 
qui  ferment  les  penseurs.  Exerce  aux  meditations  profondes  il  etait  capable 
de  suivre  avec  incroyable  perseverance  les  deductions  les  plus  etendues ;  il 
savant  atteindre  par  un  regard  penetrant,  les  distinctions  les  plus  deli- 
cates,  et  quelquefois  les  plus  subtiles." — De  Gerando. 

ONE  of  the  most  brilliant  luminaries  of  the  law  came 
near  hiding  his  legal  talents  under  a  bushel.  William 
Pinckney,  of  Annapolis,  in  Maryland,10  commenced  the 
study  of  medicine,  but  happily  discovered  that  he  had 
mistaken  his  vocation,  and  turned  his  attention  to  the  le 
gal  profession.  He  seems  to  have  lost  no  time  in  fitting 
himself  for  it,  as  we  learn  that,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 

Let  us  see  with  what  equipments  he  was  provided  for 

10  William  Pinckney  was  born  A.  j>.  1764. 

5 


50  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

the  forensic  field.  He  was  carefully  instructed  in  clas 
sical  studies  by  a  private  teacher,  to  whom  he  afterward 
rendered  the  warmest  tribute  of  gratitude  and  aifection. 
For  three  years  he  pursued  his  legal  studies  under  Mr. 
Justice  Chase,  an  eminent  lawyer  of  the  Maryland  bar. 
During  this  time  he  disciplined  his  mind  by  the  cultiva 
tion  of  logic,  so  that  no  fallacies  could  be  imposed  upon 
his  understanding.  He  became  acute  in  his  perception 
of  truth,  and  dexterous  in  the  use  of  arguments  for  its 
support.  He  had  perfect  command  of  his  native  lan 
guage,  and  poured  it  forth  in  a  rich,  melodious  voice, 
accompanied  by  an  animated  and  graceful  delivery.  To 
all  these  he  added  a  person  dignified  and  manly,  and  a 
fine,  strong  physiognomy.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore, 
that  his  first  efforts  at  the  bar  were  hailed  as  omens  of 
future  distinction. 

In  1796,  Mr.  Pinckney  was  induced  to  leave  his  pro 
fessional  pursuits  and  accept  the  appointment  of  Commis 
sioner  to  Great  Britain.  He  went  with  his  family  to 
London,  where  he  resided  for  eight  years. 

In  one  of  his  letters  written  during  this  absence,  he 
says, — "  It  is  my  most  earnest  wish  to  return  home  with 
out  loss  of  time,  and  to  apply  in  earnest  to  my  profession, 
for  the  purpose  of  securing,  while  my  faculties  are  unim 
paired,  a  competence  for  my  helpless  family.  A  few 
years  of  professional  labor  will  bring  me  into  the  sere 
and  yellow  leaf  of  life,  and  if  I  do  not  begin  speedily,  I 


THE    LAWYER.  51 

shall  begin  too  late.  I  am  used  to  adverse  fortune,  and 
know  how  to  struggle  with  it ;  my  consolations  cannot 
easily  desert  me — the  consciousness  of  honorable  views, 
and  the  cheering  hope  that  Providence  will  yet  enable  me 
to  pass  my  age  in  peace.  It  is  not  of  small  importance 
to  me  that  I  shall  go  back  to  the  bar  cured  of  every  pro 
pensity  that  could  divert  me  from  business — stronger  than 
when  I  left  it — and,  I  trust,  somewhat  wiser.  In  regard 
to  legal  knowledge,  I  have  been  a  regular  and  industri 
ous  student  for  the  last  two  years,  and  I  believe  myself 
to  be  a  much  better  lawyer  than  when  I  arrived  in  Eng 
land." 

In  another  letter  he  makes  some  remarks  on  party 
spirit,  which  it  would  be  well  for  every  young  American* 
to  reflect  upon  conscientiously. 

"  I  am  prepared,"  says  Mr.  Pinckney,  "  on  my  re 
turn,  to  find  the  spirit  of  party  as  high  and  phrensied  as 
the  most  turbulent  would  have  it.  I  am  even  prepared 
to  find  a  brutality  in  that  spirit  which  in  this  country 
(England)  either  does  not  exist,  or  is  kept  down  by  the 
predominance  of  a  better  feeling.  I  lament  that  this  is 
so  ;  and  I  wonder  that  it  is  so — for  the  American  people 
are  generous  and  liberal,  and  enlightened.  We  are  not, 
I  hope,  to  have  this  inordinate  zeal,  this  extravagant 
fanaticism  entailed  upon  us,  although  really,  one  might 
almost  suppose  it  to  be  a  part  of  our  political  creed,  that 
internal  tranquillity,  or  rather  the  absence  of  domestic 


52  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

0 

discord,  and  a  rancorous  contention  for  power,  was  in 
compatible  with  the  health  of  the  state,  and  the  liberty 
of  the  citizen.  I  profess  to  be  temperate  in  my  opinions, 
and  shall  put  in  my  claim  to  freedom  of  conscience ;  but 
when  both  sides  are  intolerant,  what  hope  can  I  have 
that  this  claim  will  be  respected  ?" 

Mr.  Pinckney  returned  to  the  United  States  in  1804, 
and  "  immediately  resumed  with  renewed  ardor  his  pro 
fessional  pursuits.  During  his  long  residence  in  Eng 
land,  he  had  never  laid  aside  his  habits  of  diligent  study, 
and  had  availed  himself  of  opportunities  for  intercourse 
with  the  accomplished  lawyers  of  that  country.  He  was 
in  the  constant  habit  of  attending  the  debates  in  the  two 
houses  of  Parliament ;  a  higher  standard  of  literary  at 
tainments  than  had  been  thought  necessary  to  embellish 
and  adorn  the  eloquence  of  the  bar  in  his  own  country, 
was  held  up  to  his  observation.  He  employed  his  leisure 
hours  in  endeavoring  to  supply  what  he  now  found  to  be 
the  defects  of  his  early  education,  by  extending  his  knowl 
edge  of  English  and  classical  literature.  He  devoted  pe 
culiar  attention  to  the  subject  of  Latin  prosody  and  Eng 
lish  elocution,  aiming,  above  all,  to  acquire  a  critical 
knowledge  of  his  own  language — its  pronunciation — its 
terms  and  significations — its  synonymes  ;  and,  in  short, 
its  whole  structure  and  vocabulary.  By  these  means,  he 
added  to  his  natural  facility  and  fluency,  a  copiousness 
and  variety  of  elegant  and  appropriate  diction,  which 


THE    LAWYER.  53 

graced  even  his  colloquial  intercourse,  and  imparted  new 
strength  and  beauty  to  his  forensic  style."11 

Mr.  Pinckney  removed  from  Annapolis  to  Baltimore, 
after  his  return  from  England,  and  in  1805,  he  was  ap 
pointed  to  the  office  of  Attorney-General  of  the  State  of 
Maryland.  But  events  of  stirring  interest  to  the  coun 
try  again  called  him  from  his  favorite  pursuits.  He 
was  induced  by  Mr.  Jefferson  to  accept  the  appointment 
of  Minister  Extraordinay  to  Great  Britain,  in  conjunc 
tion  with  Mr.  Monroe,  to  treat  with  the  British  Cabinet, 
on  matters  which  then  agitated  the  two  countries,  and 
which  finally  resulted  in  the  war  of  1812-14. 

With  regard  to  the  acceptance  of  this  responsible  mis 
sion,  he  says  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  :  "  The  plain  matter 
of  fact  is,  a  great  national  crisis  occurs,  which  requires, 
or  is  supposed  to  require,  an  extraordinary  foreign  mis 
sion.  The  President,  whom  I  might  be  said  to  know 
only  by  character,  offers  this  important  charge  to  me.  I 
give  up  my  profession.  I  surrender  all  my  hopes  of  fu 
ture  fortune.  I  forego  a  second  time,  and  forever,  the 


11  To  the  young  man,  it  is  strongly  recommended  to  keep  a  Com 
mon-place  Book.  If  he  designs  to  be  a  lawyer — let  one  portion  of  the 
book  be  specially  devoted  to  law — no  matter  how  much  he  enriches 
this  department,  with  extracts  and  quotations  having  a  direct  bearing 
upon  law,  but,  at  the  same  time,  let  him  cull  freely  and  frequently 
from  the  wide  fields  of  general  literature.  The  variety  of  elegant  and 
appropriate  diction,  thus  copied  out  by  his  hand,  will  give  tone  and 
vigor  to  his  own  style,  without  making  him  an  imitator. 

5* 


54  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

expectation  of  placing  my  numerous  and  helpless  family 
in  a  state  of  independence.  I  am  willing  to  admit  that 
I  may  have  acted  improvidently,  but  I  am  quite  sure 
that  I  have  not  deviated  from  that  path  of  honor  in  which, 
with  an  approving  conscience,  I  have  walked  from  my 
boyish  days.  My  appointment  is  known  to  have  been  as 
completely  unsolicited  as  ever  appointment  was  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world." 

Mr.  Pinckney  earnestly  endeavored  to  remove  by  pacific 
means  the  obstacles  thrown  in  the  way  of  a  neutral  com 
merce,  and  strenuously  maintained  the  honor  and  rights 
of  his  country.  He  met  with  many  and  great  discourage 
ments.  During  all  the  time  of  his  absence  he  was  anx 
ious  to  return  to  his  beloved  home,  and  yet  the  interests 
of  the  country  demanded  his  stay. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  who  had  succeeded  Mr. 
Jefferson  in  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Pinckney  says,  "  I  pray 
you  most  earnestly  to  recall  me  immediately,  if  you  find 
it  in  any  way  expedient  to  do  so.  Believe  me,  I  shall  go 
back  to  my  profession  with  a  cheerful  heart." 

Again  he  writes  to  Mr.  Madison,  "  I  ask  your  leave  at 
this  time  to  close  my  mission  here,  because  I  find  it  im 
possible  to  remain.  Age  is  stealing  upon  me,  and  I  shall 
soon  have  lost  the  power  of 'retrieving  the  time  which  has 
been  wasted  in  endeavors  to  deserve  well  of  my  country. 
Every  day  will  make  it  more  difficult  to  resume  the  hab 
its  which  I  have  twice  improvidently  abandoned.  At 


THE    LAWYER.  55 

present,  I  feel  no  want  of  cheerful  resolution  to  seek 
them  again,  as  old  friends  which  I  ought  never  to  have 
quitted,  and  no  want  of  confidence  that  they  will  not  dis 
own  me." 

Finding  that  all  remonstrance  on  the  part  of  our 
government  was  useless,  the  President  recalled  Mr. 
Pinckney.  On  the  1st  of  February,  1811,  he  had  an  au 
dience  of  leave,  at  Carlton  House,  and  soon  after  em 
barked  for  home  in  the  frigate  Essex,  and  arrived  in 
June.  With  his  accustomed  alacrity  and  ardor,  he  im 
mediately  resumed  the  labors  of  his  profession. 

In  the  following  December,  the  President  offered  him 
the  appointment  of  Attorney- General  of  the  United  States, 
which  he  accepted ;  but  finding  it  inconvenient  to  reside 
at  the  seat  of  government,  he  soon  resigned  the  office. 

Mr.  Pinckney  was  actively  engaged  in  the  defence  of 
the  country,  during  the  war.  He  commanded  a  volunteer 
corps,  with  which  he  marched  to  Bladensburg,  at  the 
time  of  the  attack  on  the  city  of  Washington  by  the 
British,  under  General  Ross.  He  conducted  with  great 
gallantry  in  the  action  at  Bladensburg,  and  was  severely 
wounded.  After  the  peace,  he  resigned  his  command. 

Mr.  Pinckney  was  soon  after  sent  as  a  Representative 
to  Congress,  from  the  city  of  Baltimore.  It  would  seem 
that,  however  strong  might  have  been  his  desire  to  pur 
sue  his  profession,  the  calls  of  his  country  were  too  urgent 
to  be  resisted. 


56  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

The  biographer  mentions  that  Mr.  Pinckney  frequently 
came  in  conflict  -with  the  great  abilities  of  Samuel  Dex 
ter,  whom  he  pronounces  one  of  the  ablest  men  this 
country  has  produced.  He  adds,  "  The  manner  in 
which  Samuel  Dexter  combined  the  various  talents  and 
attainments  of  the  common  lawyer,  the  civilian,  and  the 
statesman,  may  be  appealed  to  as  a  striking  example  of 
those  expansive  views,  and  liberal  studies,  which  distin 
guished  the  more  eminent  advocates  at  the  American 
bar." 

Samuel  Dexter  was  the  son  of  an  eminent  merchant  of 
Boston,  of  the  same  name.  The  Dexter  Professorship  of 
Sacred  Literature,  at  Harvard  University,  was  founded 
by  the  elder  Dexter,  who  was  one  of  the  distinguished 
patriots  of  the  Revolution. 

"  The  son  was  graduated  at  that  University,  in  1781. 
After  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  rose  rapidly  to  emi 
nence  in  his  profession,  and  in  the  public  councils  of  his 
native  State." 

He  was  elected  first  as  a  Representative,  and  then  as  a 
Senator  to  Congress,  where  he  took  a  high  standing  as 
an  eloquent  and  able  debater.  During  the  administration 
of  the  first  President  Adams,  he  was  appointed  Secretary 
of  War,  and  of  the  Treasury. 

"  The  features  of  the  intellectual  character  of  Mr. 
Dexter  presented  a  strong  contrast  with  those  of  Mr. 
Pinckney.  He  had  cultivated  his  powers  by  silent  medi- 


THE    LAWYER.  57 

tation  and  reflection,  rather  than  by  the  study  of  books. 
Without  being  at  all  deficient  in  mere  technical  learning, 
he  relied  mainly  upon  his  own  distinguished  faculties ; 
and,  in  his  legal  investigations,  sought  for  those  original 
principles  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  every  civilized 
code.  His  forensic  style  was  marked  by  a  strong  meta 
physical  logic,  combined  with  great  purity  and  simplicity 
of  diction ;  and  he  unfolded  the  most  perplexed  and  in 
tricate  questions  of  public  and  private  law  with  a  power 
of  analysis  which  seemed  almost  intuitive." 


CHAPTER  SEVENTH. 

ENERGY    AND    PERSEVERANCE. 

WILLIAM    PINCKNEY. 

"  Energy  is  Haifa  man's  capacity." — President  Dwight. 

ONE  of  the  most  remarkable  features  in  the  character 
of  Pinckney,  was  his  indomitable  perseverance.  Not 
withstanding  the  frequent  diversion  of  his  splendid 
talents  into  other  channels,  he  returned  to  the  law  with 
fresh  ardor  and  zeal.  "  His  brilliant  success  at  the  bar 
was  as  much  the  effect  of  extraordinary  diligence  and 
labor,  as  of  his  genius  and  rare  endowments  of  mind. 
His  continued  application  to  study,  writing,  and  public 
speaking,  a  physical  constitution  as  powerful  as  his  intel 
lectual,  enabled  him  to  keep  up  with  a  singular  perse 
verance.  He  was  never  satisfied  with  investigating  his 
causes,  and  took  infinite  pains  in  exploring  their  facts 
and  circumstances,  and  all  the  technical  learning  con 
nected  with  them.  He  constantly  continued  the  practice 
of  private  declamation  as  a  useful  exercise ;  and  was  in 
the  habit  of  premeditating  his  pleadings  at  the  bar,  and 


THE    LAWYER.  59 

his  other  public  speeches,  not  only  as  to  the  general  order 
or  method  to  be  observed  in  treating  his  subject,  the 
authorities  to  be  relied  upon,  and  the  leading  topics  of 
illustration,  but  frequently  as  to  the  principal  passages 
and  rhetorical  embellishments.  These  last  he  sometimes 
wrote  out  beforehand,  not  that  he  was  deficient  in  facility 
or  fluency,  but  in  order  to  preserve  the  command  of  a 
correct  and  elegant  diction.  All  those  who  have  heard 
him  address  a  jury,  or  a  deliberative  assembly,  know  that 
he  was  a  consummate  master  of  the  arts  of  extemporane 
ous  debating ;  but  he  believed,  with  the  most  celebrated 
and  successful  orators  of  antiquity,  that  the  habit  of 
written  composition  is  necessary  to  acquire  and  preserve 
a  style  at  once  correct  and  graceful  in  public  speaking — 
without  this  aid  it  is  apt  to  degenerate  into  colloquial 
negligence,  and  to  become  enfeebled  by  tedious  verbosity. 
His  law  papers  were  drawn  up  with  great  care,  and  his 
written  opinions  were  elaborately  composed,  both  as  to 
matter  and  style." 

Mr.  Pinckney  engaged  in  the  performance  of  his  profes 
sional  duties  with  unusual  zeal,  always  regarding  his  own 
reputation  as  at  stake,  as  well  as  the  rights  and  interests 
of  his  clients,  sensibly  alive  to  everything  which  might 
affect  either.  He  spoke  with  great  ardor  and  vehemence. 
It  must  be  evident  that  the  most  robust  constitution 
would  not  be  sufficient  to  sustain  such  intense  and  unin- 
termitted  labor,  where  every  exertion  was  a  contest  for 


60  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

victory,  and  each  new  success  a  fresh  stimulus  to  ambi 
tion.  He  therefore  found  it  necessary  to  vary  his  occu 
pations,  and  to  retire  altogether  from  the  bar  for  a  season. 
He  accepted  the  appointment  of  Minister  Plenipoten 
tiary  to  the  Court  of  Russia,  and  of  Special  Minister  to 
that  of  Naples. 

Mr.  Pinckney  said  to  one  of  his  friends,  "  There  are 
those  who  wonder  that  I  will  go  abroad,  however  honora 
ble  the  service.  They  know  not  how  I  toil  at  the  bar ; 
they  know  not  all  the  anxious  days  and  sleepless  nights  ; 
I  must  breathe  awhile  ;  the  bow  forever  bent  will  break. 
Besides,  I  want  to  see  Italy — the  orators  of  Britain  I 
have  heard — but  I  want  to  visit  that  classic  land,  the 
study  of  whose  poetry  and  eloquence  is  the  charm  of  my 
life.  I  shall  set  my  foot  on  its  shores  with  feelings 
that  I  cannot  describe,  and  return  with  new  enthusiasm, 
I  hope  new  advantages,  to  the  habits  of  public  speaking." 

Mr.  Pinckney  sailed  for  Naples  in  the  Washington, 
commanded  by  Commodore  Chauncey,  and  landed  on  the 
classic  shores  of  Italy  on  the  26th  of  July,  1816.  He 
immediately  applied  himself  to  the  business  of  his  mis 
sion.  Some  obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  Russian  mission 
presented  themselves,  but  they  were  removed,  and  he 
went  to  St.  Petersburg,  where  he  remained  for  nearly 
two  years. 

A  gentleman  who  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Pinckney 
at  St.  Petersburg,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  at  home,  among 


THE    LAWYER.  61 

other  things,  mentions  that  "  his  (Mr.  Pinckney's)  great 
forte  was  his  thorough  and  exact  acquaintance  with  the 
English  language,  with  its  best  models  of  diction,  with 
its  significations,  its  grammar,  and  its  pronunciation. 
Upon  this  he  prided  himself  exceedingly,  and  well  he 
might,  for  you  know  the  singular  art  and  skill  with  which 
he  displayed  his  mastery  over  his  own  language ;  his 
power  of  using  it  with  astonishing  force,  elegance,  and 
accuracy,  in  the  simplest  conversation,  upon  common 
topics,  in  his  legal  arguments,  which  were  to  instruct  and 
influence  the  finest  minds  in  the  country,  and  in  the 
debates  of  the  Senate,  which  were  to  aflect  permanently 
and  vitally  the  destinies  of  the  nation." 

After  about  two  years'  residence  abroad,  Mr.  Pinckney 
asked  to  be  recalled ;  and,  soon  after  his  return  home,  he 
was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  This 
was  in  1820. 

He  continued  his  professional  labors  with  the  same  in 
tense  application  and  ardent  desire  of  success  which  had 
marked  his  whole  career.  But  his  busy  life  was  hurrying 
to  a  conclusion.  He  died  at  Washington,  on  the  25th  of 
February,  1822. 

The  character  of  Pinckney,  as  delineated  by  Wheaton, 
is  one  which  every  aspirant  for  legal  distinction  should 
carefully  study. 

To  extraordinary  natural  endowments,  Mr.  Pinckney 
added  deep  and  various  knowledge  in  his  profession. 
6 


62  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

A  long  course  of  study  and  practice  had  familiarized  his 
mind  with  the  science  of  jurisprudence.  He  had  felt 
himself  originally  attracted  to  it  by  invincible  inclina 
tion  j  it  was  his  principal  pursuit  in  life,  and  he 
never  entirely  lost  sight  of  it  in  his  occasional  deviations 
into  other  pursuits  and  employments.  He  was  devoted 
to  the  law  with  a  true  enthusiasm  ;  and  his  other  studies 
and  pursuits,  so  far  as  they  had  a  serious  object,  were 
valued  chiefly  as  they  might  minister  to  this  idol  of  his 
affections.  He  said,  "  the  bar  is  not  the  place  to  acquire 
or  preserve  a  false  or  fraudulent  reputation  for  talents ;" 
and,  on  that  theatre,  he  felt  conscious  of  possessing  those 
powers  which  would  command  success. 

When  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profes 
sion,  he  toiled  with  almost  unparalleled  industry.  All 
other  pursuits,  the  pleasures  of  society,  and  even  the 
repose  which  nature  demands,  were  sacrificed  to  this  en 
grossing  object.  His  character,  in  this  respect,  affords 
a  bright  example  for  the  younger  members  of  the  profes 
sion.  His  entire  devotion  to  his  professional  pursuits 
was  continued  with  unremitting  perseverance  to  the  end 
of  his  career.  He  continued  to  exert  all  his  faculties,  as 
if  his  entire  reputation  were  staked  on  each  particular 
display. 

JVb  abilities,  however  splendid,  can  command  success 
at  the  bar,  without  intense  labor  and  persevering  appli 
cation. 


THE    LAWYER.  63 

Mr.  Pinckney  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  having  been 
rarely  equaled,  and,  perhaps,  never  excelled  in  the 
power  of  reasoning  upon  legal  subjects.  His  mind  was 
acute  and  subtle,  and,  at  the  same  time,  comprehensive 
in  its  grasp,  rapid  and  clear  in  its  conceptions,  and  sin 
gularly  felicitous  in  the  exposition  of  the  truths  it  was 
employed  in  investigating. 

His  style  does  not  appear  to  have  been  originally 
modeled  after  any  particular  standard,  or  imitated  from 
the  example  of  any  particular  writer  or  speaker.  It  was 
formed  from  his  peculiar  manner  of  investigating  and 
illustrating  the  subjects  with  which  he  had  to  deal ;  and 
was  impressed  with  the  stamp  of  his  vigorous  and  com 
prehensive  intellect.  It  displayed,  occasionally,  the 
copiousness,  fore?,  and  idiomatic  grace,  and  the  boldness 
and  richness  of  metaphor  which  distinguished  the  old 
writers  of  English  prose.  But  in  all  its  essential  quali 
ties,  Mr.  Pinckney's  style  was  completely  formed  long 
before  he  had  the  advantage  of  studying  any  of  these 
models  of  eloquence. 

Whoever  has  listened  to  him  on  a  dry  and  complica 
ted  question  of  mere  technical  law,  when  there  seemed 
to  be  nothing  on  which  the  mind  delighted  to  fasten, 
must  recollect  what  a  charm  he  diffused  over  the  most  in 
tricate  and  arid  discussions  by  the  clearness  and  purity  of 
his  language,  and  the  calm  flow  of  his  graceful  elocution. 

His  favorite  mode  of  reasoning  was  from  the  analogies 


64  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

of  the  law  ;  and  whilst  he  delighted  his  auditory  by  his 
powers  of  amplification  and  illustration,  he  instructed 
them  by  tracing  up  the  technical  rules  and  positive  insti 
tutions  of  jurisprudence  to  their  original  principles  and 
historical  source. 

Of  the  extent  and  solidity  of  his  legal  attainments,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  speak  in  adequate  terms,  without 
the  appearance  of  exaggeration.  He  was  profoundly 
versed  in  the  ancient  learning  of  the  common  law,  its 
technical  peculiarities  and  feudal  origin.  He  was  famil 
iar  with  every  branch  of  commercial  law,  and  extensively 
acquainted  with  the  principles  of  international  law. 

His  favorite  law-book  was  the  Coke  Littleton,  which 
he  had  read  many  times.  Its  principal  texts  he  had 
treasured  up  in  his  memory,  and  his  arguments  at  the  bar 
abounded  with  perpetual  recurrences  to  the  principles 
and  analogies  drawn  from  this  rich  mine  of  common-law 
learning. 

He  was  not  what  is  commonly  called  a  learned  man,  but 
he  excelled  in  those  branches  of  human  knowledge  which 
he  had  cultivated  as  auxiliary  to  his  principal  pursuit. 
It  has  been  already  mentioned  that  he  was  a  thorough 
master  of  the  English  language — its  whole  structure  and 
vocabulary.  He  used  to  relate  to  his  young  friends  an 
anecdote,  which  explains  one  of  the  motives  which  in 
duced  him  at  a  mature  age,  and  after  he  had  risen  to  em 
inence,  to  review  and  extend  his  classical  studies,  and  at 


THE    LAWYER.  65 

the  same  time  illustrates  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
traits  of  his  character — that  resolution  and  firmness  of 
purpose  with  which  he  devoted  himself  to  the  acquisition 
of  any  branch  of  knowledge  he  deemed  it  desirable  to 
possess.  During  his  residence  in  England,  some  ques 
tion  of  classical  literature  was  discussed  at  table  in  a 
social  party  where  he  was  present,  and  the  guests  in  turn 
gave  their  opinions  upon  it.  Mr.  Pinckney  being  silent 
for  some  time,  an  appeal  was  at  length  made  to  him  for 
his  opinion,  when  he  had  the  mortification  to  be  compelled 
to  acknowledge  that  he  was  unacquainted  with  the  sub 
ject.  In  consequence  of  this  incident,  he  was  induced  to 
resume  his  classical  studies,  and  actually  put  himself  un 
der  the  care  of  a  master  for  the  purpose  of  reviewing 
and  extending  his  acquaintance  with  ancient  literature. 

During  the  whole  course  of  his  active  and  busy  life, 
Mr.  Pinckney  pursued  his  professional  studies,  and  those 
which  related  to  the  English  language,  with  the  strictest 
method  and  perseverance.  In  other  respects  he  seems 
to  have  read  in  the  most  desultory  manner  possible,  to 
gratify  his  curiosity  and  to  keep  pace  with  the  current 
literature  of  the  day.  His  tenacious  memory  enabled 
him  to  retain  the  stores  of  miscellaneous  knowledge  he 
had  thus  acquired,  and  his  mind  was  enriched  with  liter 
ary  and  historical  anecdote. 

His  profession  was  the  engrossing  pursuit  of  his  life, 
and  beyond  that  his  talents  shone  most  conspicuously  in 
6* 


66  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

those  senatorial  discussions  which  fall  within  the  province 
of  the  constitutional  lawyer. 

When  some  members  of  the  Senate  were  accused  of 
ambitious  motives,  Mr.  Pinckney  said, — "  For  myself  I 
can  truly  say,  that  I  am  wholly  destitute  of  what  is  com 
monly  called  Ambition.  It  is  said  that  Ambition  is  the 
disease  of  noble  minds.  If  it  be  so,  mine  must  be  a  vul 
gar  one,  for  I  have  nothing  to  desire  in  this  world  but 
professional  fame,  health  and  competence  for  those  who 
are  dear  to  me,  a  long  list  of  friends  among  the  virtuous 
and  the  good,  and  honor  and  prosperity  for  my  country." 

From  a  letter  written  from  St.  Petersburg  by  some 
person  well  acquainted  with  Mr.  Pinckney,  we  learn 
that  "  his  neatness  and  attention  to  the  fashionable  cos 
tume  of  the  day  were  carried  to  an  extreme,  which  ex- 
jjbsed  him,  while  at  home,  to  the  charge  of  foppery  and 
affectation.  But  it  should  be  remembered  how  large  a 
portion  of  his  life  he  had  spent  abroad,  and  in  the  high 
est  circles  of  European  society.  Though  he  undoubt 
edly  piqued  himself  upon  being  a  finished  and  elegant 
gentleman,  yet  his  manners  and  habits  of  dress  were  ac 
quired  in  Europe,  and  so  far  from  being  remarkable 
there,  they  were  in  exact  accordance  with  the  common 
and  established  usages  of  men  of  his  rank  and  station."* 

*  From  a  lawyer's  common -place  book, — "  Cleanliness  is  to  be  cul 
tivated.  1st.  It  is  a  mark  of  politeness.  2d.  It  produces  love.  It 
bears  an  analogy  to  purity  of  mind/' 


THE    LAWYER.  67 

The  lawyer's  dress  and  address  are  his  first  letters  of 
introduction.  He  makes  his  own  way  afterward. 

It  is  said  of  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  that  in  his  youth  "  he 
loved  fine  clothes,"  but  that  he  passed  from  the  "  ex 
treme  of  vanity  in  his  apparel,  to  that  of  neglecting  him 
self  too  much,"  and  was,  in  consequence  of  his  shabby 
appearance,  once  taken  up  by  a  press-gang,  for  the  King's 
service  ;  "  for  he  was  a  strong  and  well-built  man,  but 
some  that  knew  him,  coming  by  and  giving  notice  who 
he  was,  the  press-men  let  him  go.  This  made  him  re 
turn  to  more  decency  in  his  clothes." 

The  editor  of  the  Life  of  Sir  Matthew,  in  connection 
with  this  anecdote,  quotes  from  an  old  English  writer  as 
follows  : — 

"  Let  thy  apparel  be  decent,  and  suited  to  the  quality 
of  thy  place  and  purse ;  too  much  punctualitie  and  too 
much  morositie  are  the  two  poles  of  pride." 


CHAPTER   EIGHTH. 

WILLIAM    WIRT'S    CHILDHOOD. 

"  For  the  strocture  that  we  raise, 
Time  is  with  materials  filled  ; 
Our  to-days  and  yesterdays, 

Are  the  blocks  with  which  we  build."— Longfellow. 

FOR  the  encouragement  of  young  men  laboring  under 
serious  disadvantages,  an  example  will  now  be  given  of 
one  who,  in  the  words  of  his  eloquent  biographer,* 
"  springing  from  an  humble  origin,  was  enabled  to  attain 
to  high  distinction  among  his  countrymen." 

William  Wirt  was  born  in  the  year  1772.  His  father 
kept  a  tavern  in  Bladensburg,  Maryland.  William  was 
the  youngest  of  six  children,  and  was  early  left  an  or 
phan,  his  father  dying  before  he  was  two  years  old,  and 
his  mother  before  he  had  reached  his  eighth  year. 

William  was  a  lively,  shrewd,  pleasant-tempered,  and 
beautiful  boy,  upon  whom  many  eyes  were  turned  in 
kindly  regard. 

*  Hon.  John  P.  Kennedy,  from  whose  "  Life  of  Wirt"  we  have,  with 
his  permission,  made  copious  extracts. 


THE    LAWYER.  69 

And  well  it  was  for  the  orphan  boy  that  he  won  this 
kindly  regard. 

In  a  charming  autobiography,  written  for  his  own 
family,  William  Wirt  has  given  an  amusing  and  exceed 
ingly  interesting  account  of  his  early  life. 

He  says,  "  In  1779,  I  was  sent  to  Georgetown,  eight 
miles  from  Bladensburg,  to  school.  I  was  placed  at 
boarding  with  the  family  of  Mr.  Schoolfield,  a  Quaker. 
They  occupied  a  small  house  of  hewn  logs  at  the  eastern 
end  of  Bridge  street.  Friend  Schoolfield  was  a  well-set, 
square-built,  honest-faced,  and  honest-hearted  Quaker ; 
his  wife  one  of  the  best  of  creation.  A  deep  sadness  fell 
upon  me  when  I  was  left  by  the  person  who  accompanied 
me  to  Georgetown.  When  I  could  no  longer  see  a  face 
that  I  knew,  nor  an  object  that  was  not  strange,  I  re 
member  the  sense  of  total  desertion  and  forlornness  that 
seized  upon  my  heart.  Unlike  anything  I  have  felt  in 
after  years,  I  sobbed,  as  if  my  heart  would  break,  for 
hours  together,  and  was  utterly  inconsolable,  notwith 
standing  the  maternal  tenderness  with  which  good  Mrs. 
Schoolfield  tried  to  comfort  me.  Almost  half  a  century 
has  rolled  over  the  incident,  yet  full  well  do  I  recollect 
with  what  gentle  affection  and  touching  sympathy  she 
urged  every  topic  that  was  calculated  to  console  a  child  of 
my  years.  After  quieting  me  in  some  measure  by  her 
caresses,  she  took  down  her  Bible  and  read  to  me  the 
story  of  Joseph  and  his  brethren.  It  is  probable  I  had 


70  SUCCESS    IN   LIFE. 

read  it  before,  as  such  things  are  usually  read,  without 
understanding  it ;  but  she  made  me  comprehend  it,  and 
in  the  distresses  of  Joseph  and  his  father,  I  forgot  my 
own.  His  separation  from  his  family  had  brought  him 
to  great  honor,  and  possibly  mine,  I  thought,  might  be 
equally  fortunate.  I  claim  some  sense  of  gratitude.  / 
never  forgot  an  act  of  kindness,  and  never  received  one 
that  my  heart  has  not  impelled  me  to  wish  for  some  oc 
casion  to  return  it.  So  far  as  my  experience  goes,  I  am 
persuaded,  too,  that  doing  an  act  of  kindness,  and  still 
more,  repeated  acts  to  the  same  individual,  are  as  apt  to 
attach  the  heart  of  the  benefactor  to  the  object,  as  that 
of  the  beneficiary  to  the  person  who  does  him  the  service. 
It  was  so  in  this  instance.  I  went  to  see  Mrs.  School- 
field  after  I  became  a  man,  and  a  warmer  meeting  has 
seldom  taken  place  between  mother  and  son." 

Here,  then,  is  the  secret  of  the  "  kindly  regard," — the 
affectionate,  grateful  disposition  of  the  youthful  Wirt. 

The  romance  of  his  character  is  exhibited,  most  amus 
ingly,  in  the  following  account  of  his  first  love.  The  boy 
must  have  been  at  the  time  eight  years  old.  He  tells 
the  story  as  follows  : — 

"  From  Georgetown  I  was  transferred  to  a  classical 
school  about  forty  miles  from  Bladensburg.  I  was  board 
ed  with  a  widow  lady  by  the  name  of  Love,  and  my  resi 
dence  in  her  family  forms  one  of  the  few  sunny  spots  in 
the  retrospect  of  my  childhood.  There  were  two  boys  of 


THE    LAWYER.  VI 

us  near  the  same  age  ;  Johnson  Carnes  was  rather  older 
and  larger  than  I  was.  He  was  a  good,  diffident,  rather 
grave  boy,  with  better  common  sense  than  I  had  :  but  he 
did  not  sing,  was  rather  homely,  and  had  no  mirth  and 
frolic  in  him  ;  I,  on  the  contrary,  was  pert,  lively,  and 
saucy — and  they  used  to  say  pretty  withal — I  said  smart 
things  sometimes,  and  sang  two  or  three  songs  of  humor 
rery  well." 

"  To  crown  all,  I  had  a  sweetheart,  one  of  the  prettiest 
cherubs  that  ever  was  born.  Mr.  Thomas  Reeder  lived 
on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac.  The  house  was  of  brick, 
situated  on  a  high,  airy  bank,  giting  a  beautiful  view 
of  the  river,  which  is  there  four  miles  wide.  Peggy 
Reeder  was  the  only  child  of  her  parents,  about  my 
own  age,  rather  younger,  and  as  beautiful  as  it 
is  possible  for  a  child  to  be.  We  fell  most  exceed 
ingly  in  love  with  each  other.  She  was  accustomed  to 
make  long  visits  to  her  Aunt  Love ;  and  no  two  lovers, 
however  romantic,  were  ever  more  happy  than  we.  On 
my  part,  it  was  a  serious  passion.  No  lover  was  ever 
more  disconsolate  in  the  absence  of  his  mistress,  nor  more 
enraptured  at  meeting  her.  I  do  not  know  whether  it  is 
held  that  the  affections  keep  pace  with  the  intellect  in 
their  development,  but  I  do  know  that  there  is  nothing  in 
the  sentiment  of  happy  love  which  I  did  not  experience 
for  that  girl,  in  the  course  of  the  two  years  when  I  re 
sided  as  Mrs.  Love's.  When  I  left  there  we  were  firmly 


72  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

engaged  to  be  married  at  the  following  Easter.  I  felt 
proud  and  happy,  not  in  the  least  doubting  the  fulfillment 
of  the  engagement  at  the  time  appointed. 

u  As  for  school,  Mr.  Dent  was  a  most  excellent  man, 
a  sincere  and  pious  Christian,  and,  I  presume,  a  good 
teacher.  In  the  two  years,  Johnson  Carnes  and  myself 
got  as  far  advanced  as  Caesar's  Commentaries,  though 
we  could  not  have  been  well  grounded,  for  when  I  chang 
ed  to  another  school,  I  was  put  back  to  Cornelius  Nepos. 
Mr.  Dent  was  very  good-tempered.  I  do  not  remember 
to  have  received  from  him  a  harsh  word,  or  any  kind  of 
punishment,  but  once." 

The  imaginative  character  of  William  Wirt's  mind 
was  early  developed.  He  says,  "  I  became  sensible  of 
the  power  of  forming  and  pursuing,  at  pleasure,  a  day 
dream,  from  which  I  derived  great  enjoyment,  and  to 
which  I  found  myself  often  recurring.  There  was 
nothing  in  the  scenery  around  me  to  awaken  such  vagaries. 
It  was  tame,  gentle,  and  peaceful  ;  there  was  neither  in 
centive  nor  fuel  for  poetic  dreams.  Mine  were  the 
amusements  of  the  dull  morning  walks  from  Mrs.  Love's 
to  the  school-house.  It  was  a  walk  of  about  two  miles, 
and  my  companion  was  rather  disposed  to  silence.  I 
remember  very  distinctly  the  subject  of  one  of  these 
vagaries,  from  the  circumstance  of  my  having  recalled, 
renewed,  and  varied  it  again  and  again,  from  the  pleasure 
it  afforded  me.  I  imagined  myself  the  owner  of  a 


THE    LAWYER.  73 

beautiful  black  horse,  fleet  as  the  winds.  My  pleasure 
consisted  in  imagining  the  admiration  of  the  immense 
throngs  on  the  race-field,  brought  there  chiefly  to  witness 
the  exploits  of  my  prodigy  of  a  horse.  I  could  see  them 
following  and  admiring  him  as  he  walked  along  by  the 
course,  and  could  hear  their  bursts  of  applause  as  he  shot 
by,  first  one  competitor  and  then  another,  in  the  race. 
The  vision  was  vivid  as  life ;  and  I  felt  all  the  glow  of 
triumph  that  a  real  victory  could  have  given." 

Desire  of  distinction!  How  it  already  throbbed  at 
the  heart  of  the  school-boy  ! 

The  next  change  in  the  early  life  of  William  Wirt 
was  to  the  school  of  the  Rev.  James  Hunt,  the  Presby 
terian  minister  in  Montgomery  county.  There  he  board 
ed  in  the  family  of  Major  Magruder,  a  planter.  The 
original  name  was  MacGregor. 

"  The  Major  showed  marks  of  Highland  extraction. 
He  was  large,  robust,  and  somewhat  corpulent,  with  a 
round,  florid  face,  short,  curling,  sandy  hair,  and  blue-gray 
eyes.  He  was  strong  of  limb,  fiery  in  temperament,  hos 
pitable,  warm-hearted,  and  rough.  He  was  a  magistrate, 
and  ex  officio  a  conservator  of  the  peace,  which,  how 
ever,  he  was  as  ready,  on  provocation,  to  break  as  to 
preserve.  At  times,  he  was  kind  and  playful  with  the 
boys ;  but  woe  betide  the  unfortunate  boy  or  man  who 
became  the  object  of  his  displeasure.  Mrs.  Magruder's 
contrast  with  her  husband  was  striking.  She  was  quiet, 
I 


SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

and  generally  silent.  I  do  not  remember  having  heard 
her  speak  a  dozen  times  in  the  two  years  that  I  lived  in 
the  family.  But  the  Major's  voice  I  remember,  as  the 
loud  north  wind  that  used  to  rock  the  house  and  sweep 
the  snow-covered  field.  They  had  a  large  family,  seven 
sons  and  four  daughters.  The  grown  sons  were  numerous, 
and  loud  enough  to  keep  the  house  alive,  being  some 
what  of  the  Osbaldistone  order,  except  that  there  was  not 
a  Rashleigh  among  them  ;  nor  was  there  a  Di  Vernon 
among  the  girls." 

"  Major  Magruder's  household  embraced  not  less  than 
twenty  white  persons.  To  these  there  was  a  constant 
addition,  by  visitors  to  the  young  people  of  the  family. 
It  was,  in  fact,  an  active,  bustling,  merry,  noisy  family, 
always  in  motion,  and  often  in  commotion.  To  me  it 
was  painfully  contrasted  with  the  small,  quiet,  affection 
ate  establishment  of  Mrs.  Love.  There  I  had  been  the 
petted  child,  and  supreme  object  of  attention.  Here  I 
was  lost  in  the  multitude,  unnoticed,  unthought  of,  and 
left  to  make  my  way,  and  take  care  of  myself,  as  well  as 
I  could.  My  hair,  which,  under  the  discipline  of  Mrs. 
Love's  daughters,  was  as  clean  and  soft  as  silk,  now  lost 
its  beauty.  I  had  been  spoiled  by  indulgence,  and  was 
really  unfit  to  take  care  of  myself.  I  did  not  know  how 
to  go  about  it.  Young  as  I  was,  I  had  reflection  enough 
to  compare  the  two  scenes  in  which  I  had  lived,  to  feel 
my  present  desolation,  and  to  sigh  over  the  past.  The 


THE    LAWYER.  Y5 

tune  of  Roslin  Castle  never  recurred  to  my  memory 
without  filling  my  eyes  with  tears." 

"  There  was  another  circumstance  which  embittered 
my  residence  at  Major  Magruder's.  One  of  my  com 
panions  was  ill-tempered,  and  I  became  the  peculiar 
object  of  his  tyranny.  There  was  that  in  my  situation 
which  would  have  disarmed  a  generous  temper.  I  was  a 
small,  feebly-grown,  delicate  boy,  an  orphan,  and  a  poor 
one,  too,  but  these  circumstances  seemed  rather  to  invite 
than  to  allay  the  hostility  of  this  fierce  young  man. 
During  the  two  years  that  it  was  my  misfortune  to  be  in 
the  house  with  him,  and  his  school-fellow,  I  suffered  a 
wanton  barbarity,  that  so  degraded  and  cowed  my  spirit, 
that  I  wonder  I  have  ever  recovered  it." 

This  was  the  part  of  Wirt's  life-apprenticeship 
which  was  to  try  his  mettle.  Here  he  undoubtedly  lost 
the  "pert"  and  "saucy"  ways  of  which  he  accuses 
himself.  Let  us  see  how  he  sought  to  relieve  himself 
from  his  persecutor. 

"  The  rest  of  the  family  were  content  to  let  me  alone, 
and  I  became,  at  length,  well  content  to  be  so.  I  can 
recall  here  the  first  experience  I  had  of  the  refuge  and 
comfort  of  solitude.13  Often  have  I  gone  to  bed  long 
before  I  was  sleepy,  and  long  before  any  other  member 
of  the  household,  that  I  might  enjoy,  in  silence  and 

12  "  Solitude  is  the  nurse  of  genius." 


*76  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

to  myself,  the  hopes  which  my  imagination  never  failed 
to  set  before  me.  These  imaginings  rest  on  my  memory 
with  the  distinctness  of  yesterday.  I  looked  forward  to 
the  time  when  I  should  be  a  young  man,  and  should 
have  my  own  office^  of  two  rooms,  my  own  servant, 
and  the  means  of  receiving  and  entertaining  my  friends 
with  elegant  liberality,  my  horse,  and  fine  equipments,  a 
rich  wardrobe,  and  these  all  recommended  by  such  man 
ners  and  accomplishments  as  should  again  restore  me 
to  such  favor  and  affectionate  intercourse  as  I  had  known 
at  Mrs.  Love's.  I  never  dreamt  of  any  other  revenge 
on  my  tormenting  school-fellow,  than  to  eclipse  him,  arid 
make  him  sue  for  my  friendship.'' 

These  extracts  from  the  autobiography,  which,  by 
the  way,  was  only  given  by  Mr.  Wirt  till  his  eleventh 
year,  "  sufficiently  indicate  the  temperament  of  the  boy, 
and  give  us  no  slight  glimpses  of  the  future  aspirations 
of  the  man.  They  show  how  true  an  eye  and  how  true 
a  heart  he  had  for  the  kindly  influences  that  fell  in  the 
way  of  his  youthful  experience." 

"  The  ingenuous  and  quick-sighted  boy"  was,  doubt 
less,  shy  and  diffident,  and  the  trials  of  his  desolate  con 
dition  as  an  orphan,  must  have  been  greatly  enhanced  by 
his  extreme  sensitiveness.  But  where  the  boy  felt  entire 
confidence,  he  could  be  gay  and  light-hearted.  Fortu 
nately,  the  aunt  with  whom  he  lived,  while  quite  young, 
won  that  confidence,  and  before  her,  he  exhibited  traits  of 


THE    LAWYER.  77 

character  not  observed  by  others,  particularly  the  alterna 
tion  from  "  grave  to  gay,"  from  "  thoughtfulness  to  light- 
hearted  ease."  When  his  uncle  was  debating  with  her 
the  question  of  his  education,  she  remarked,  a  When  I 
look  at  that  dear  child,  he  scarcely  seems  one  of  us,  and 
I  weep  when  I  think  of  him." 

"  Such  an  expression,"  says  Mr.  Kennedy,  "  would 
seem  to  indicate  some  early  presage  of  that  superiority 
which  his  riper  years  developed." 

William  Wirt  remained  until  he  was  fifteen  years  of 
age  at  the  school  of  Mr.  Hunt.  Here,  he  laid  the  firm 
foundation  for  his  future  intellectual  career.  "  He  ac 
quired  some  insight  into  astronomy,  some  taste  for  phys 
ics,  some  relish  for  classical  study,  but  above  all,  some 
sharpness  of  appetite  for  the  amusements  afforded  by  the 
{  run  of  the  library .' 

"  That  library  cheated  him  out  of  many  a  worse  rec 
reation,  and  whilst  it  captivated  his  boyish  imagination 
with  its  world  of  treasures,  it  served  also  to  implant  in 
his  mind  that  love  of  various  lore,  which  seeks  its  enjoy 
ment  among  the  flowers  that  enamel  the  broad  fields  of 
literature." 

A  taste  for  reading  formed  thus  early,  is  indeed  one 
of  the  most  effectual  preventives  of  vice.  The  gratifi 
cation  of  that  taste  is,  moreover,  taking  the  whole  course 
of  a  long  life  into  view,  one  of  the  highest  enjoyments  that 
man  can  have  upon  this  earth. 
7* 


78  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

"  Many  men  who  have  won  distinction  by  their  intel 
lectual  accomplishments,  have  been  able  to  trace  their 
first  impulses  toward  an  honorable  renown,  to  the  oppor 
tunities  afforded  by  a  miscellaneous  library,  and  to  the 
tastes  which  it  has  enabled  them  to  improve." 

u  There  seems  to  have  been  in  the  case  of  William 
Wirt,  quite  a  sufficient  concentration  of  methodized 
study,  in  the  pursuit  of  his  own  laborious  profession,  to 
justify  and  commend  the  habit  of  light  and  excursive 
reading  in  all  other  departments  of  science  or  literature. 
It  may  be  said  to  have  been  Mr.  Wirt's  characteristic 
quality  of  mind,  to  perceive  and  keenly  to  relish  the 
riches  of  that  upper  world  of  thought — humane  letters. 
These,  comprehending  in  their  scope  nearly  everything 
that  is  graceful  in  aesthetics,  everything  that  is  beautiful 
in  art,  glowing  in  poetry,  and  eloquent  in  thought,  pre 
sent  to  the  student  a  field  of  various  observation,  which 
can  only  be  cultivated  and  enjoyed  by  the  most  appa 
rently  desultory  study." 

The  lawyer  who  is  thus  prepared  has  a  wide  field  for 
illustration,  of  immense  advantage,  when  he  comes  to  ad 
dress  a  jury. 

Wirt  tried  his  pen  first  upon  poetry. 

"  He  read  how  Pope13  had  first  tempted  his  muse 
at  twelve  years  of  age.  He  himself  was  now  thirteen  ; 
why  shouldn't  he  versify?" 

13  "  I  lisped  in  numbers,  for  the  numbers  came." 


THE    LAWYER.  79 

Sure  enough,  why  should  not  so  imaginative  a  mind 
produce  genuine  poetry  ? 

"  He  tried  his  hand  at  it,  and  failed.  He  accordingly 
resolved  that  nature  had  not  made  him  a  versifier.  There 
was,  however,  the  world  of  prose  open  to  him,  and  forth 
with  he  set  out  upon  that  quest." 

This  resolve  was  a  fortunate  one,  for  he  might  other 
wise  have  made  only  a  second-rate  poet,  instead  of  a 
first-rate  lawyer.  At  this  very  time,  William  Wirt  was 
acquiring  a  taste  for  the  profession  in  which  he  after 
ward  became  so  distinguished. 

u  Mr.  Hunt  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  his  pupils  to  the 
Montgomery  court,  in  term  time,  to  give  them  some  insight 
to  those  mysteries  which  may  be  said  to  be,  in  this  coun 
try,  the  ladder  to  preferment.  The  court-house  was 
some  four  miles  from  the  school.  The  whole  troop, 
headed  by  the  Domine,  went  on  foot,  and  with  due  so 
lemnity  entered  the  rustic  hall  of  justice,  and  took  their 
seats  in  the  unoccupied  jury-box.  Amongst  the  pleaders, 
one  of  the  youngest  was  William  H.  Dorsey,  well  known 
to  the  school  and  neighborhood.  He  became  their  favor 
ite,  and  in  their  eyes  a  hero.  Boys  have  a  great  instinct 
for  hero-worship  ; — and  worship  with  them  is  imitation." 

"  Why  should  we  not  have  a  little  court  of  our  own  ?" 
said  the  schoolboys.  "  Agreed." 

Mr.  Hunt's  school-room  forthwith  became  the  court 
room,  and  here  the  youthful  Wirt  first  displayed  the 


80  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

germs  of  that  forensic  eloquence  which,  in  after  years, 
charmed  both  judge  and  jury.  He  also  drew  up  the  con 
stitution  for  the  youthful  moot  court  and  a  prefatory  let 
ter  of  apology. 


CHAPTER  NINTH. 

WILLIAM    WIRT'S    BOYHOOD. 

"Build  to-day,  then,  strong  and  sure, 

With  a  firm  and  ample  base  ; 
And  ascending  and  secure, 

Shall  to-morrow  find  its  place,"—  Longfellow. 

WHEN  William  Wirt  was  fourteen  years  old,  he  left 
school.  His  small  patrimony  was  expended,  and  at  this 
early  age  he  was  to  be  thrown  upon  his  own  resources 
for  support.  But  his  amiable  deportment  and  his  talents 
had  won  for  him  powerful  friends. 

"  Mr.  Peter  A.  Carnes  was  an  early  patron  and  most 
useful  friend  to  the  lad.  This  gentleman  belonged  to 
the  bar  of  Maryland.  He  had  the  best  opportunities  to 
observe  the  character  of  the  young  and  sprightly  boy, 
whose  qualities  were  so  well  adapted  to  captivate  his  re 
gard.  This  acquaintance  ripened  into  a  strong  and  last 
ing  attachment,  which  was  subsequently  manifested  in 
the  most  substantial  proofs  of  friendship  to  his  family." 

Mr.  Carnes  afterward  married  Elizabeth,  the  eldest 
sister  of  William  Wirt,  and  being  thus  connected,  the 
interest  in  his  protege  increased,  and  he  was  able  to  ren 
der  him  essential  service. 


82  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

"  Besides  Mr.  Carries,  there  was  another  who  now 
took  an  interest  in  the  success  of  the  youthful  scholar, 
and  whose  connection  with  him  had  the  most  happy  influ 
ence  in  shaping  his  career  to  that  eminence  which  he  af 
terward  achieved." 

Ninian  Edwards,  afterward  Governor  of  Illinois,  was 
the  classmate  of  Wirt  at  Mr.  Hunt's  school.  When 
young  Edwards  went  home,  after  the  breaking  up  of  that 
school,  he  carried  with  him  the  constitution  of  the  moot 
court  which  Wirt  had  drawn  up,  and  the  prefatory  re 
port.  The  father,  Benjamin  Edwards,  it  seems,  was 
so  much  struck  with  the  talent  displayed  in  them,  that 
he  soon  after  wrote  to  Wirt,  inviting  him  to  come  into 
his  family  as  a  tutor  to  his  son  Ninian  and  two  of  his 
nephews,  who  were  preparing  for  college. 

Mr.  Edwards  assured  the  young  tutor  that  his  library 
should  be  at  his  service,  and  this  would  be  a  great  advan 
tage  in  prosecuting  his  studies.  Soon,  "  the  pupil,  now 
converted  into  a  teacher,  was  most  comfortably  estab 
lished  at  Mount  Pleasant — as  this  seat  was  appropriate 
ly  called — '  .1  the  bosom  of  a  hospitable,  cultivated,  and 
estimable  family." 

Who  will  presume  to  say  that  merit  does  not  meet 
with  reward  ?  Here  was  a  lad  of  only  fifteen,  promoted 
above  his  school-fellows,  and  making  his  way  in  the  world. 
His  first  step  is  taken  upon  the  ladder  of  eminence.  He 
was  now  brought  under  genial  influences.  Mr.  Edwards 


THE    LAWYER.  83 

was  well  versed  in  general  literature,  his  mind  was 
strong,  direct,  and  trained  to  reflection ;  his  demeanor 
challenged  respect  and  esteem  by  its  dignity  ;  his  char 
acter,  public  and  private,  was  distinguished  for  lofty  pat 
riotism  and  inflexible  virtue.  His  manners  were  affable, 
and  particularly  agreeable  to  the  young." 

"  To  the  last  day  of  his  life,  Wirt  could  not  speak  of 
Benjamin  Edwards  but  with  a  grateful  affection,  which 
seemed  to  be  even  more  than  filial." 

When  Wirt  had  conquered  the  obstacles  of  poverty, 
and,  as  Mr.  Kennedy  forcibly  remarks,  had  hewn  his 
way  to  a  brilliant  reputation,  he  wrote  to  his  benefactor 
as  follows  : — u  You  have  taught  me  to  love  you  like  a 
parent.  Well  indeed  may  I  do  so,  since  to  you,  to  the 
influence  of  your  conversation,  your  precepts  and  your 
example  in  the  most  critical  and  decisive  period  of  my 
life,  I  owe  whatever  of  useful  or  good  there  may  be  in 
the  bias  of  my  mind  or  character.  Continue,  then,  I  im 
plore  you,  to  think  of  me  as  a  son,  and  teach  your  chil 
dren  to  regard  me  as  a  brother  :  they  shall  find  me  one 
indeed,  if  the  wonder-working  dispensations  of  Provi 
dence  should  ever  place  them  in  want  of  a  brother's  arm, 
or  mind,  or  bosom." 

The  young  tutor's  destination  was  the  bar,  but  after 
all,  there  were  many  drawbacks  tp  his  success.  He  was 
shy  and  timid.  ^  His  enunciation  was  thick  and  indistinct, 
marked  by  a  nervous  rapidity  of  utterance.  "  Round, 


84  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

*'"* 

clear,  and  dauntless  speech,"  may  well  be  considered  the 
lawyer's  first,  second,  and  third  recommendation  to  the 
public. 

Mr.  Edwards  encouraged  his  young  friend  to  overcome 
these  obstacles.  He  told  him  how  many  distinguished 
men  had  either  broken  down,  or  feared  a  break- down,  at 
their  first  trial  as  public  speakers. 

"  Dorsey,"  said  he,  "  whom  you  so  much  admire,  and 
Pinckney ,  whom  you  will  admire  still  more  when  you  shall 
have  seen  him,  are  making  their  way  to  distinction  under 
as  great  disadvantages  as  any  you  have  to  encounter." 

Wirt  passed  twenty  happy  and  useful  months  under 
the  roof  of  Mr.  Edwards.  He  devoted  his  leisure  to 
classical  study  and  preparation  for  his  chosen  profession. 
At  the  expiration  of  this  period  his  health  failed,  and  by 
the  advice  of  friends  he  was  induced  to  make  a  journey 
to  Georgia  on  horseback,  There  he  passed  the  winter 
with  his  friend  and  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Carnes,  and  his 
sister. 

"  The  traveler  set  out  alone.  He  was  in  his  seven 
teenth  year.  The  way  was  long,  and  a  great  deal  of  it 
lay  through  a  dreary  wilderness  of  pine-forest  and  sand. 
It  was  no  light  enterprise  in  that  day,  but  we  may  well 
imagine  that  to  the  cheerful  boy,  so  full  of  pleasant  fan 
cies  and  rosy  hopes,  the  wayside  brought  no  weariness. 
In  the  first  outlook  of  a  youth  of  seventeen  upon  the 
world, — mounted  upon  a  steed,  with  a  purse  sufficiently 


THE    LAWYER.  85 

stored  to  bring  him  to  his  journey's  end, — with  all  his 
worldly  goods  packed  on  a  pad  behind  his  saddle, — with  a 
gay  heart  in  his  bosom,  and  a  sunshiny  face  beneath  his 
beaver, — what  is  there  on  the  globe  to  make  him  sad  ?" 
If  our  young  adventurer  had  kept  a  journal  of  this 
expedition,  it  would,  doubtless,  have  demonstrated  the 
content  and  joy  with  which  he  pursued  his  lonely  journey. 
His  health  and  vigor  were  restored,  and  in  the  spring  he 
returned  to  Maryland. 


CHAPTER    TENTH. 

WILLIAM  WIRT  ADMITTED   TO  THE  BAR. 

"Thus,  ia  the  destitution  of  the  wild  desert,  does  our  young  Ishmae]  acquire  for  him 
self  the  highest  of  all  possessions,  that  of  Self-help."—  Carlyle. 

AT  the  early  age  of  seventeen,  Wirt  commenced  the 
study  of  the  law,  with  William  P.  Hunt,  the  son  of  his 
former  preceptor.  This  was  a  year  of  vast  consequence 
to  his  future  progress,  for  he  seems  to  have  been  already 
at  the  very  gate  of  the  Temple  of  Themis.  Maryland, 
however,  was  not  to  be  the  theatre  where  the  most  con 
spicuous  acts  in  the  life- drama  of  William  were  to  be 
performed. 

"  While  with  Mr.  Hunt,"  writes  Wirt,  "  a  friend  in 
formed  me  of  a  very  advantageous  station  for  a  lawyer 
in  the  State  of  Virginia.  Everybody  urged  me  to  seize 
it.  I  removed  my  residence  immediately  to  Virginia, 
and  after  residing  about  five  months  with  a  Mr.  Swann, 
an  acquaintance  and  school-mate  of  Tom  Carnes,  and  a 
young  fellow  of  distinguished  legal  abilities,  I  applied 
to  the  judges  for  a  license,  and  obtained  the  signature  of 
three  of  their  honors." 


THE    LAWYER.  87 

"  This  is  the  introduction  of  William  Wirt  to  Virgin 
ia,  a  State  with  whose  fame  he  grew  to  be  almost  in 
separably  identified,  and  toward  which  he  never  ceased 
to  look  with  the  affection  of  a  child  to  a  parent. 

"  The  court  in  which  he  was  admitted  to  practice  was 
that  of  Culpepper  county,  and  his  residence  was  at  the 
court-house  village." 

The  "  equipment"  of  William  Wirt,  for  the  learned 
profession  into  which  he  had  now  entered,  would  seem 
as  insufficient  for  a  modern  practitioner  as  would  the  bow 
and  arrow  of  the  savage  for  the  United  States  soldier. 
He  has  told  the  story  himself,  that  his  whole  magazine 
of .  intellectual  artillery  at  this  period,  comprised  no  other 
munitions  than  a  copy  of  Blackstone,  two  volumes  of 
Don  Quixote,  and  a  volume  of  Tristram  Shandy. 

And  how  was  he,  thus  equipped  and  with  so  little 
drilling,  to  meet  the  contest  with  well-trained,  disciplined 
antagonists  ?  It  will  be  remembered  that  Wirt  was  con 
stitutionally  diffident,  and  that  he  had  not  yet  overcome 
the  hurried  speech  and  "  thick  tongue"  which  annoyed 
him  at  school.  Judge,  then,  young  man,  what  must 
have  been  William  Wirt's  emotions  when  called  u  for 
the  first  time  to  discourse  the  most  difficult  and  perplex 
ing  of  all  human  lore  in  the  presence  of  the  frowning 
and  solemn  majesty  of  the  bench,"  or  those  twelve  men 
who  represent  "  the  country." 

"  The  young  votary,  who,  for  the  first  time,  stands  in 


88  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

this  presence,  surrounded  by  its  usual  and  characteristic 
auditory  ; — when  he  sees  the  compact  pavement  of  heads, 
with  their  multitudinous  eyes  concentred  upon  one  focus, 
and  that  focus  himself,  all  eager  to  hear  every  word," — 
what  but  "  nightmare"  can  give  an  idea  of  the  "  op 
pressed  brain  and  bewildered  sight"  of  the  shy  and  un- 
practiced  youth,  under  these  trying  circumstances  ?" 

"  One  such  scene  I  have  witnessed,"  says  Mr.  Ken 
nedy,  "  and  I  remember  the  agony  with  which  the  con 
fused  novitiate  arose  a  second  time — having  been  but  a 
moment  before  compelled  to  take  his  seat,  in  the  hope  to 
collect  his  routed  thoughts.  His  second  essay  was  not 
more  fortunate  than  the  first.  He  stood  silent  for  a 
brief  space,  and  at  the  end  was  able  to  say, — (  Gentle 
men,  I  declare  to  Heaven,  that  if  I  had  an  enemy,  upon 
whose  head  I  would  invoke  the  most  cruel  torture,  I  could 
wish  him  no  other  fate  than  to  stand  where  I  stand  now.' 
Curiously  enough,  the  sympathy  which  the  appeal 
brought  him,  seemed  almost  instantly  to  give  him  strength. 
A  short  pause  was  followed  by  another  effort,  which  was 
completely,  and  even  triumphantly,  successful." 

William  Wirt's  first  appearance  at  the  bar  has  been 
described  in  a  memoir  written  by  his  friend,  Mr.  Cruse. 

"  With  these  advantages," — a  rich  and  melodious  voice 
when  undisturbed  by  timidity,  a  pleasing  person  and  pre 
possessing  manners, — a  and  defects" — an  indistinct  enun 
ciation,  and  extreme  bashfulness, — "  he  was  to  begin  the 


THE    LAWYER.  89 

competitions  of  the  bar  in  a  part  of  the  country  where  he 
was  quite  unknown,  where  much  talent  had  preoccupied 
the  ground.  There  is  no  part  of  the  world  where,  more 
than  in  Virginia,  these  embarrassments  would  be  lessened 
to  a  new  adventurer,  as  there  is  nowhere  a  more  courteous 
race  of  gentlemen.  There  was,  however,  another  embar 
rassment — our  lawyer  had  no  cause.  But  he  encountered 
a  young  friend  much  in  the  same  circumstances,  who 
had  a  single  case,  which  he  proposed  so  share  with 
Wirt,  as  the  means  of  making  a  joint  debut.  With  this 
small  stock  in  trade,  they  went  to  attend  the  first  County 
Court." 

Their  case  was  one  of  joint  assault  and  battery.  The 
motion  was  opened  "  by  Wirt's  friend,  with  all  the  alarm 
of  a  first  essay.  The  bench  was  then,  in  Virginia  County 
Courts,  composed  of  the  ordinary  justices  of  the  peace ; 
and  the  elder  members  of  the  bar,  by  a  usage,  the  more 
necessary  from  the  constitution  of  the  tribunal,  fre 
quently  interposed  as  amid  curia,  or  informers  of  the 
conscience  of  the  court.  It  appears  that  on  the  case 
being  opened,  one  of  these  customary  advisers  interposed. 
The  ire  of  our  beginner  (Wirt)  was  kindled  by  this  re 
ception  of  his  friend,  and  by  this  voluntary  interference 
with  their  motion ;  and  when  he  came  to  reply,  he  forgot 
the  natural  alarms  of  the  occasion,  and  maintained  his 
point  with  recollection  and  firmness.  This  awakened 
the  generosity  of  an  elder  member  of  the  bar,  a  person 


90  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

of  consideration  in  the  neighborhood,  and  a  good  lawyer. 
He  stepped  in  as  an  auxiliary,  remarking  that  he  also 
was  amicus  curia,  and  in  this  capacity  would  state  his 
conviction  of  the  propriety  of  the  motion,  and  that  the 
court  was  not  at  liberty  to  disregard  it ;  adding,  that  its 
having  come  from  a  new  quarter,  gave  it  but  a  stronger 
claim  on  the  candor  and  urbanity  of  a  Virginian  bar.  The 
two  friends  carried  their  point  in  triumph." 

Not  the  most  sanguine  friend  of  Wirt  had  prophesied 
so  successful  a  termination  to  his  first  effort. 

The  ordeal  was  past, — the  ice  was  broken, — and  the 
new  barrister  felt  that  he  might  thenceforth  walk  into 
the  courts  unquestioned. 

There  had  been  a  want  of  system  in  Wirt's  course  of 
preparation,  which  must  have  increased  his  natural  diffi 
dence  of  himself.  He  must,  too,  have  been  conscious  of 
ignorance  on  many  points  connected  with  his  profession ; 
and  his  extreme  youth  was  not  calculated  to  inspire  his 
clients  with  unlimited  confidence.  Yet,  in  spite  of  this 
formidable  array  of  unpropitious  circumstances,  "  his 
practice  at  the  bar  of  Culpepper  increased,  and  during 
the  two  years  which  he  remained  in  that  part  of  the 
country,  he  secured  the  esteem  and  regard  of  influential 
friends." 


CHAPTER   ELEVENTH. 

WILLIAM    WIRT;S    LEGAL    PROGRESS. 

"  Shall  he  who  soars,  inspired  by  loftier  views, 
Life's  little  cares  and  little  pains  refuse  ?" 

"  Let  your  heart  be  tender,  but  your  breast  strong,  and  struggle  and  hope  at  the  same 
time." — Jean  Paul. 

IN  the  neighborhood  of  Charlotteville,  at  Pen  Park, 
resided  Doctor  George  Gilmer.  This  place  was  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  within  a 
day's  ride  of  Mr.  Monroe  and  Mr.  Madison.  The 
delightful  residence  of  Dr.  Gilmer  afforded,  among  other 
great  attractions,  the  best  society  of  the  time — choice 
books  were  found  in  the  library,  instructive  and  agreeable 
conversation  enlivened  the  fireside.  But  the  richly-gift 
ed  daughter  of  Dr.  Gilmer  was  the  crowning  attraction 
of  Pen  Park.  Mildred  Gilmer  was  "  intellectual,  kind, 
cheerful,  and  noted  for  her  good  sense.  The  imagina 
tive  and  susceptible  young  barrister  found  a  fairy -land 
in  this  romantic  spot,  and  a  spell  in  the  eye  and  tongue 
of  the  maiden,  which  charmed  too  wisely  to  be  broken. 
The  father's  regard  for  him  opened  the  way  to  a  closer 
alliance,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  took  his  place  in 
the  family  as  a  cherished  son-in-law." 


92  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Wirt  was  now  in  his  twenty-fifth  year.  His  practice  at 
the  bar  was  increasing,  and  his  reputation  widely  extend 
ing.  The  stores  of  English  literature — Hooker,  Boyle, 
Locke,  Barrow,  South,  Bacon,  and  Milton — now  delighted 
and  enriched  his  mind. 

Mr.  Cruse,  who  knew  William  Wirt  well  at  that 
time,  says,  "  He  was  highly  engaging  and  prepossessing. 
His  figure  was  strikingly  elegant  and  commanding,  with 
a  face  of  the  first  order  of  masculine  beauty,  animated, 
and  expressing  high  intellect.  His  manners  took  the 
tone  of  his  heart ;  they  were  frank,  open,  and  cordial, 
and  his  conversation,  to  which  his  reading  and  early  pur 
suits  had  given  a  classic  tinge,  was  very  polished,  gay, 
and  witty.  Altogether  he  was  a  most  fascinating  com 
panion,  and  to  those  of  his  own  age,  irresistibly  and  uni 
versally  winning." 

The  temptations  which  surrounded  Wirt  at  this  time 
were  fearful.  "  An  unbounded  hospitality,  amongst  the 
gentlemen  of  the  country,  opened  every  door  to  the  indul 
gence  of  convivial  habits." 

It  is  deeply  to  be  lamented  that  these  temptations 
were  sometimes  too  strong  for  the  virtue  of  William 
Wirt,  and  that  he  yielded  occasionally  in  such  a  way  as 
to  occasion  deep  anxiety  to  his  friends,  and  future  re 
morse  to  himself.  Willingly  would  we  have  drawn  a 
thick  veil  over  the  faults  that  thus  dimmed  the  bril 
liancy  of  the  young  barrister's  character,  but  truth 


THE    LAWYER.  93 

obliges  the  biographer  to  confess  that  there  were  some 
aberrations  from  the  path  of  virtuous  sobriety,  which 
William  Wirt  deeply,  sadly  regretted  in  after  years. 


CHAPTER    TWELFTH. 

A     PROPHECY. 

"  Once,  as  he  (Sir  Matihew  Hale)  was  buying  some  cloth  for  a  new  suit,  the  draper, 
with  whom  he  differed  about  the  price,  told  him  he  should  have  it  for  nothing,  if  he 
would  promise  him  a  hundred  pounds  when  he  came  to  be  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  Eng 
land.  To  which  he  answered,  that  '  he  could  not,  with  a  good  conscience,  wear  any 
man's  cloth  unless  he  paid  for  it.'  So  he  satisfied  the  draper,  and  carried  away  the 
cloth.  Yet  the  draper  lived  to  see  him  advanced  to  that  same  dignity."— Bishop  Burnet. 

ONE  of  those  fortunate  prophecies,  which  surprise  by 
their  realization,  is  mentioned  in  connection  with  this  pe 
riod  of  Wirt's  life,  as  an  incident  worth  relating. 

James  Barbour,  Dabney  Carr,  and  Wirt  were  on 
their  customary  journey  to  Fluvanna,  the  adjoining  coun 
ty  to  Albermarle,  to  attend  the  court  there, — "  the  State 
of  Flu,"  as  that  county  was  called  in  their  jocular  terms. 
Wirt  was  noted  for  making  clever  speeches,  as  they  rode 
together.  Sometimes  he  rode  ahead  of  his  companions, 
and,  waiting  for  them  by  the  road-side,  welcomed  them, 
in  an  oration  of  mock  gravity,  to  the  confines  of  i '  the 
State  of  Flu,"  representing  himself  to  be  one  of  its 
dignitaries,  sent  there  to  receive  the  distinguished  persons, 
into  whom  he  had  transformed  the  young  attorneys  of 
the  circuit.  These  exhibitions,  and  others  of  the  same 
kind,  are  said  to  have  afforded  many  a  laugh  to  the  actors. 


THE    LAWYER.  95 

The  three  friends  dined  and  passed  the  night  at  Carr's 
Brook,  in  Albemarle.  During  the  visit,  Barbour  enter 
tained  the  company  with  a  discourse  upon  the  merits  of 
himself  and  his  companions,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
undertook  to  point  out  their  respective  destinations  in  af 
ter  life. 

"  You,  Dabney,"  said  he,  "have  indulged  a  vision  of 
judicial  eminence.  You  shall  be  gratified,  and  shall  hold 
a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  Virginia." 

"  Your  fortune,  William,"  he  continued,  addressing 
himself  to  Wirt,  "  shall  conduct  you  to  the  Attorney- 
Generalship  of  the  United  States,  where  you  shall  have 
harder  work  to  do  than  making  bombastic  speeches  in 
the  woods  of  Albemarle.  As  for  myself,  I  shall  be  con 
tent  to  take  my  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States." 

This  jocular  prophecy  has  become  notable  in  conse 
quence  of  its  exact  fulfillment,  in  respect  to  each  of  the 
parties. 

These  were  golden  days  to  William  Wirt.  He  went 
to  Albemarle  poor,  and  without  powerful  friends-  He 
had  very  little  experience  in  the  business  of  life,  and  no 
great  store  of  useful  knowledge.  Moreover,  he  had  not 
entered  into  the  lists  with  powerful  adversaries  to  prove 
his  strength,  and  was  not  very  sanguine  as  to  his  final 
success. 

Here  he  found  himself  surrounded  with  warm  friends 
capable  of  appreciating  his  merits,  and  able  to  aid  him 


96  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

with  judicious  instruction  and  wise  counsel.  But  dark 
clouds  came  over  the  cheerful  path  that  Wirt  was  tread 
ing  with  a  joyous  heart.  His  father-in-law,  Dr.  Gilmer, 
— that  invaluable  instructor,  guide,  and  friend, — was  re 
moved  by  death.  In  the  fifth  year  of  his  married  life  a 
still  heavier  blow  was  inflicted  in  the  loss  of  his  wife. 

This,  if  not  the  first,  was  "  the  most  painful  lesson  of 
his  life  upon  the  uncertainty  of  human  happiness,  and 
the  duty  of  establishing  hopes  upon  a  surer  foundation 
than  the  treasures  of  earth." 

Adversity  is  not  unfrequently  the  most  healthful  ingre 
dient  in  the  cup  of  human  experience,  and  the  best  tonic 
to  brace  the  mind  for  those  encounters  in  which  virtue  is 
proved  and  renown  achieved. 

In  the  early  letters  of  Wirt  there  are  occasional  indi 
cations  of  that  reverence  for  religious  subjects  which 
formed  so  prominent  a  characteristic  of  his  later  life. 
No  occasion  of  hilarity,  no  youthful  indiscretion,  seems 
ever  to  have  betrayed  him  into  the  profanation  of  sub 
jects  esteemed  sacred,  or  to  the  practice  of  the  scoffs  and 
jests  which  sometimes  disgrace  thoughtless  youth,  or 
unthinking  age. 

The  death  of  his  wife  deepened  the  religious  senti 
ment,  and  led  him  to  desire  more  earnestly  the  solace  of 
Christian  faith,  and  of  that  hope  which  is  as  "  an  anchor 
to  the  soul,  sure  and  steadfast." 

The  delightful  residence  of  Pen  Park  had  become  full 


THE    LAWYER.  97 

of  sad  associations  to  the  sensitive  heart  of  Wirt ;  he 
left  the  beloved  spot,  and  established  his  residence  in 
Richmond.  So  intense  was  his  melancholy,  that  for  a 
time  he  suspended  his  legal  practice.  His  friends,  how 
ever,  persuaded  him  to  resume  some  occupation  of  mind, 
and  through  their  influence  he  was  appointed  Clerk  of 
the  House  of  Delegates.  This  office  was  one  of  suffi 
cient  consideration  to  be  regarded  by  a  young  man  as 
an  advancement  in  the  career  of  life.  It  was,  besides, 
not  so  engrossing  but  that  he  might  pursue  his  profes 
sion  whilst  he  held  it. 

This  appointment  was  so  far  serviceable  to  him  that  it 
brought  him  into  personal  acquaintance  with  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  of  the  day.  He  met  with  full 
approbation  in  his  new  office,  and  was  re-elected  in  the 
two  succeeding  years.  The  young  clerk  became  a  great 
favorite  with  all. 

This  portion  of  his  life,  Wirt  was  accustomed  to  con 
sider,  on  a  review  of  it,  one  of  great  temptation.  He 
was,  however,  frequently  led  to  reflect  upon  the  necessity 
of  a  steady  aim,  if  he  would  arrive  at  eminence  in  his 
profession. 

It  has  already  been  remarked  that  the  elocution  of 
Wirt  in  the  early  period  of  his  professional  career  was 
indistinct,  and  his  manner  embarrassed.  There  was  hes 
itation  at  one  moment,  the  too  rapid  flow  of  utterance  at 
another,  and  frequent  stammering. 
9 


98  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Wirt,  in  speaking  of  these  difficulties  to  a  friend,  said, 
"  My  pronunciation  and  gesture  at  this  time  were  terri 
bly  vehement.  I  used,  sometimes,  to  find  myself  liter 
ally  stopped  by  too  great  rapidity  of  utterance ;  and  if 
any  poor  mortal  was  ever  forced  to  struggle  against  a 
difficulty  in  that  matter,  it  was  I ;  but  my  stammering 
became  at  last  a  martyr  to  perseverance^  and  except 
when  I  get  some  of  my  youthful  fires  lighted,  I  can  man 
age  to  be  pretty  intelligible  now." 

It  will  be  very  encouraging  to  those  who  may  be 
troubled  with  similar  difficulties  of  enunciation  to  know, 
that  Wirt  entirely  overcame  them  by  careful  attention 
and  judicious  practice. 


CHAPTER  THIRTEENTH. 

MODESTY   AND    EMULATION. 

"  There  are  great  men  enough  to  excite  us  to  aim  at  true  greatness." 

AT  the  close  of  the  third  session  of  the  Legislature,  for 
which  Mr.  Wirt  had  officiated  as  clerk,  he  was  chosen, 
unanimously ,  one  of  the  Chancellors  of  the  State  of 
Virginia.  This  was  a  high  honor  for  a  man  only  twenty- 
nine  years  of  age,  and  shows  the  estimation  in  which  he 
was  already  held  by  his  adopted  State. 

"  It  had  not  entered  into  his  imaginings  to  expect  such 
a  mark  of  favor  from  the  Legislature.  The  same  diffi 
dence  in  himself,  which  forbade  him  to  solicit  such  a 
distinction,  now  wrought  in  him  some  perturbation  of 
spirit  in  the  accepting  of  it.  It  is  not  always  the  quality 
of  true  genius  to  distrust  itself,  for  there  are  instances  of 
men  of  the  brightest  parts  protruding  themselves  upon 
the  public,  with  that  eager  self -commendation  which  we 
are  accustomed  to  call  vanity  in  weaker  minds ;  but  this 
attribute  of  diffidence  is  so  generally  the  accompaniment 
of  youthful  merit,  that  we  scarcely  err  when  we  reckon 


100  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

upon  it  as  one  of  the  signs  by  which  we  may  prophesy 
future  success." 

This  modesty  is,  most  assuredly,  quite  pleasing  in  a 
young  man,  and  gains  the  good-will  and  the  assistance  of 
his  elders,  who  have  already  won  their  way  to  eminence. 

The  historian,  Prescott,  says,  "  If  we  are  to  point  out 
a  moral  as  the  key  of  the  fiction  of  Don  Quixote,  we  may 
pronounce  it  to  be,  the  necessity  of  proportioning  our  un 
dertakings  to  our  capacities."  Aye,  there's  the  rub  !  How 
is  a  young  man  to  know  his  own  capacities  7  "  Thrust 
out  the  invisible  fruit-buds  of  your  soul,  and  as  a  man, 
you  will  profit  by  the  ripened  fruit,"  says  Jean  Paul. 

When  Mr.  Wirt  went  to  consult  Mr.  Monroe  about 
accepting  his  appointment,  and  expressed  doubts  and 
fears  as  to  his  suitableness,  either  in  age  or  acquirements, 
for  the  post,  Mr.  Monroe  replied,  "  that  the  Legis 
lature,  he  doubted  not,  knew  very  well  what  it  was  doing, 
and  that  it  was  not  probable  Mr.  Wirt  would  disappoint 
either  it  or  the  suitors  of  the  court." 

The  duties  of  his  new  station  required  that  Mr.  Wirt 
should  reside  in  Williamsburg,  and  it  seems  he  was 
quite  willing  to  remove  to  that  place.  He  writes  on  the 
occasion  to  a  friend,  as  follows  : — 

"  I  wished  to  leave  Richmond,  on  many  accounts.  I 
dropped  into  a  circle,  dear  to  me  for  the  amiable  and 
brilliant  traits  which  belonged  to  it,  but  in  which  I  had 


THE    LAWYER.  101 

found,  that  during  several  months  I  was  dissipating  my 
health,  my  time,  my  money,  and  my  reputation.  This 
conviction  dwelt  so  strongly,  so  incessantly,  upon  my  mind, 
that  all  my  cheerfulness  forsook  me,  and  I  awoke  many 
a  morning  with  the  feelings  of  a  madman.  I  had  resolved 
to  leave  Richmond,  and  was  meditating  only  a  decent 
pretext  to  cover  my  retreat.  In  this  perplexity  the  ap 
pointment  descended  upon  me,  unsolicited,  unthought  of, 
with  the  benevolent  grace  of  a  guardian  angel.  If  I  do 
not  fill  the  office  with  justice,  at  least,  to  my  country,  it 
shall  not  be  for  want  of  unremitting  effort  on  my  part. 
"  Your  friend, 

"  WILLIAM  WIRT." 

"  It  was  not  long  after  the  period  to  which  our  narra 
tive  has  now  arrived,  that  Elizabeth,  the  second  daughter 
of  Colonel  Gamble,  of  Richmond,  became  the  wife  of 
William  Wirt.  Of  all  the  fortunate  incidents  in  the  life 
of  Wirt,"  continues  his  biographer,*  "his  marriage 
with  this  lady  may  be  accounted  the  most  auspicious. 
During  the  long  term  of  their  wedlock,  distinguished  for 
its  happy  influence  on  the  fortunes  of  both,  her  admira 
ble  virtues,  in  the  character  of  wife  and  mother,  her 
tender  affection  and  watchful  solicitude  in  everything  that 
interested  his  domestic  regard,  and  in  all  that  concerned 
his  public  repute,  commanded  from  him  a  devotion  which, 

*  Hon.  John  P.  Kennedy. 

9* 


102  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

to  the  last  moment  of  his  life,  glowed  with  an  ardor  that 
almost  might  be  called  romantic." 

Mr.  Wirt  found  the  Chancellorship  an  impediment  to 
his  progress  in  legal  studies ;  besides,  the  salary  was  too 
small  for  the  support  of  a  family.  The  duties  of  the 
office  demanded  nearly  all  his  time,  and  his  purpose  to 
become  eminent  in  his  profession  would  thus  be  defeated. 
Accordingly,  six  or  seven  months  after  his  marriage,  he 
relinquished  the  honor  which  had  been  conferred  upon 
him,  and  devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  practice  of  the 
law. 

Upon  this  subject  he  thus  writes  to  his  friend,  Dabney 
Carr  :— 

"  This  honor  of  being  a  Chancellor  is  a  very  empty 
thing,  stomachically  speaking ;  that  is,  although  a  man 
may  be  full  of  honor,  his  stomach  may  be  empty  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  honor  will  not  go  to  market  and  buy  a  peck 
of  potatoes.  On  fifteen  hundred  dollars  a  year  I  can 
live ;  but  if  death  comes,  how  will  my  wife  and  family 
live  ?  I  would  go  to  the  bar  and  bend  all  the  powers  of 
my  soul  and  body  to  the  profession,  for  fifteen  years.  In 
the  course  of  my  business,  thus  it  would  be  my  study  so 
to  unite  my  dignity  with  my  interest  as,  in  my  old  age, 
to  be  able  to  lead  my  sons  (if  I  am  blessed  with  sons) 
upon  the  theatre  of  life,  so  as  to  pre-engage  for  them  the 
respect  and  confidence  of  the  world ;  that  they  might  never 
blush  at  the  mention  of  their  father's  name,  unless  it 


THE    LAWYER,  103 

were  a  blush  of  reflected  honor  and  virtuous  emula 
tion." 

At  this  time  Mr.  Wirt  thought  seriously  of  a  removal 
to  Kentucky.  On  this  topic  he  again  writes  to  his  friend 
Dabney  Carr: — 

"  The  separation  from  many  who  are  dear  to  me  will  be 
painful.  It  is  a  pain  which  I  seem  to  have  been  destined 
to  suffer  more  frequently  than  almost  anybody  else  equal 
ly  fond  of  friends.  From  the  time  I  first  left  my  na 
tive  roof,  (at  the  age  of  seven,)  I  lived  nowhere,  except 
merely  long  enough  to  let  my  affections  take  a  firm  root, 
when  either  want  or  calamity  have  torn  me  up,  and  waft 
ed  me  into  some  strange  and  distant  soil.  Eight  or  ten 
times  I  have  experienced  this  fate ;  and  though  a  separa 
tion  from  those  whom  I  love  and  who  love  me,  however 
often  repeated,  would  still  be  painful,  I  derive  comfort 
from  the  thought  that  I  have  never  yet  been  thrown  upon 
a  soil  too  cold  or  barren  for  friendship  and  love. 

"  You  ask,  why  quit  the  State  which  has  adopted,  which 
has  fostered  me,  which  has  raised  me  to  its  honors  1  It 
is  the  partiality  of  your  friendship  which  puts  this  ques 
tion.  I  am  sure  it  is  very  immaterial  to  Virginia  where 
I  reside. 

"  For  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I  look  forward  with  a. 
thoughtful  mind  and  a  heart  aching  with  uncertainty,  to 
the  years  which  lie  before  me.  I  cannot  abide  the  re 
flection  that  the  time  shall  ever  come  when  my  conscience 


104  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

shall  reproach  me  with  having  neglected  the  interests 
and  happiness  of  my  family  ; — with  having  involved,  by 
my  want  of  energy  and  enterprise,  a  lovely  and  innocent 
wife,  with  a  group  of  tender  and  helpless  children,  in 
want  and  misery. 

"  But  Hope,  like  an  angel  of  peace,  whispers  to  my  heart 
that  this  shall  not  be.  She  does,  indeed,  present  some 
most  brilliant  and  ravishing  scenes  to  my  waking  fancy. 
Wealth,  fame,  respect,  the  love  of  my  fellow- citizens, 
she  designs  with  the  boldness  and  grandeur  of  an  Angelo ; 
while,  with  all  the  softness  and  sweetness  of  a  Titian's 
pencil,  she1  draws  my  wife  and  a  circle  of  beauteous 
cherubs,  happy  as  innocence,  and  peace,  and  plenty  can 
make  them." 

The  project  of  the  emigration  to  Kentucky  was  aban 
doned,  and  Mr.  Wirt  determined  to  take  up  his  abode 
in  Norfolk. 

Again  he  writes  to  his  friend  Carr  as  follows  : — 
"  Well,  sir,  you  have  heard  that  I  have  disrobed  my 
self  of  the  Chancellor's  furs,  and  I  feel  much  the  cooler 
and  lighter  for  it.  Not  but  there  was  some  awkward 
ness  in  coming  down  to  conflict  with  men,  to  whom,  a  few 
days  before,  my  dictum  was  the  law.  The  pride  was  a 
false  one,  and  I  revenged  myself  on  it.  I  feel  little  tri 
umph  in  being  thus  able  to  get  out  of  myself,  to  survey, 
from  an  intellectual  distance,  the  workings  of  my  own 
heart,  to  discern  and  to  chastise  its  errors." 


THE    LAWYER.  105 

The  man  who  can  thus  make  an  impartial  and  candid 
friend  of  himself,  has  gained  a-  great  point  in  the  refor 
mation  and  perfection  of  his  own  character.19. 

19. «  Phocian  the  Athenian,  a  man  of  great  severity,  and  no  ways 
flexible  to  the  will  of  the  people,  one  day  when  he  spoke  to  the  peo 
ple  was  applauded ;  whereupon  he  turned  to  one  of  his  friends  and 
said,  "  What  have  I  done  amiss  ?" — Lord  Bacon. 


CHAPTER   FOURTEENTH. 

ADVANCEMENT. 

"  Half  the  failures  in  life  arise  from  pulling  in  one's  horse  as  he  is  leaping." 

MR.  WIRT,  very  soon  after  his  removal  to  Norfolk,  was 
in  a  full  practice  at  the  bar,  and  was  rapidly  rising  to  emi 
nence.  In  a  letter  to  one  of  his  earliest  and  best  friends, 
William  Pope,  dated  August  6th,  1803,  he  says  : — 

"  I  am  already  engaged  in  very  productive  business  in 
five  courts.  I  am  very  sanguine  that,  with  the  blessing 
of  Providence,  I  shall  be  able  to  retire  from  business  in 
ten  or  fifteen  years,  with  such  a  fortune  as  will  place  my 
family  at  least  above  want. 

"  And  how  do  you  prosper,  my  good  friend  ?  Does  for 
tune  flow  in  upon  you  in  a  golden  deluge  ?  I  hope  it 
does.  Good  men,  only,  deserve  to  be  rich,  because  they, 
only,  are  disposed  to  employ  their  wealth  for  the  good 
of  the  world.  But  things  in  general  take  a  different 
turn,  and  none  grow  rich  but  the  selfish  and  the  sordid. 

Our  friend  B ,  however,  is  an  illustrious  exception 

to  this  remark.  A  more  feeling,  a  more  benevolent,  a 
more  philanthropic  heart,  never  palpitated  in  the  bosom 
of  a  man." 


THE    LAWYER.  107 

Within  a  few  weeks  after  the  date  of  the  foregoing 
letter,  the  eldest  child  of  Mr.  Wirt,  Laura  Henrietta, 
was  born. 

New  and  holy  resolutions  for  his  future  life  were  now 
made  by  the  grateful  father.  He  writes  to  his  beloved 
companion, — "  I  am  convinced,  thoroughly  and  perma 
nently  convinced,  that  the  very  highest  earthly  success, 
the  crowning  of  every  wish  of  the  heart,  would  still  leave 
even  the  earthly  happiness  of  man  incomplete.  The  soul 
has  more  enlarged  demands,  which  nothing  but  a  com 
munion  with  Heaven  can  satisfy.  The  soul  requires  a 
broader  and  more  solemn  basis,  a  stronger  anchor,  a  safer 
port  in  which  to  moor  her  happiness,  than  can  be  found 
on  the  surface  of  this  world." 

In  another  letter  to  his  wife  he  says, — "  The  man  who 
knows  and  feels  his  own  foibles,  and  can  draw  off  from 
himself  so  far  as  to  make  a  proper  estimate  of  his  own 
imperfections,  will  be  hurt  by  the  flattery  of  others." 

About  this  time  Mr.  Wirt  wrote  the  British  Spy.  The 
book  was  published  anonymously,  and  was  eagerly  read 
throughout  the  Union.  His  popularity  was  well  deserved 
— for  as  Mr.  Kennedy  remarks, — "  It  was  written  in  a 
polished  and  elegant  style,  and  the  distinctive  traits 
of  Virginia  society,  manners,  opinions,  and  popular  insti 
tutions,  are  glanced  at  with  a  happy  facility  of  obser 
vation." 

Who  does  not  remember  with  pleasure  "  The  Blind 


108  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Preacher,"  an  extract  from  the  British  Spy,  as  one  of 
the  choicest  specimens  in  his  reading-book  at  school  ? 
But  this  was  but  an  cc  aside"  in  the  drama  of  Wirt's 
life.  He  devoted  himself  with  great  zeal  and  applica 
tion  to  his  professional  duties,  and  made  himself  a  firm 
standing-place  among  able  competitors  for  the  topmost 
round  of  the  ladder  of  forensic  eminence. 

"  Forensic  life,"  says  Mr.  Kennedy,  "  is,  in  great 
part,  life  in  the  noon-day,  in  presence  of  sharpsight- 
ed  observers,  and  not  the  most  indulgent  of  critics. 
It  has  always  two  sides,  whereof  one  is  sentinel  upon 
the  other ;  and  a  blunder,  a  slip,  or  a  slovenly  neglect  of 
the  matter  in  hand,  never  escapes  without  its  proper 
comment.  The  public  opinion  of  the  merits  of  a  lawyer 
is  but  the  winnowed  and  sifted  judgment  of  the  bar,  and 
is,  therefore,  made  up  after  severe  ordeal,  and  upon 
standard  proof." 

Mr.  Wirt  had  not  been  long  in  Norfolk  before  he 
wrote  "to  a  friend,-—"  Here  I  am  abreast  with  the  van  of 
the  profession  in  this  quarter,  with  the  brightest  hopes 
and  prospects — puffed  by  the  newspapers  as  an  orator, 
to  which  I  have  no  pretensions,  and  honored  and  applaud 
ed  far  beyond  my  deserts.  I  have  formed,  in  my  imagi 
nation,  a  model  of  professional  greatness  which  I  am  far,, 
very  far  below,  but  to  which  I  will  never  cease  to  aspire. 
It  is  to  this  model  that  I  compare  myself,  whenever  the 
world  applauds,  and  the  comparison  humbles  me  to  the 


THE    LAWYER.  109 

dust.  But  I  must  not  despair,  since  it  is  only  by 
aiming  at  perfection  that  a  man  can  attain  his  highest 
practicable  point."1 

The  correct  principles  of  Wirt  revolted  against  the 
position  in  which  he  found  himself,  when  his  talents  had 
made  him  extensively  known  as  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
advocates  in  the  State. 

He  writes  to  Mrs.  Wirt :  "  I  look  to  you  as  a  refuge 
from  care  and  toil.  It  is  this  anticipation  only  which 
enables  me  to  sustain  the  pressure  of  employments  so  un 
congenial  to  my  spirits — this  indiscriminate  defence  of 
right  and  wrong — this  zealous  advocation  of  causes  at 
which  my  soul  revolts.  But  the  time  will  come  when  I 
hope  it  will  be  unnecessary." 

"  He  began  to  long,"  says  Mr.  Kennedy,  "  for  the 
privilege  of  an  extensive  devotion  of  his  time  to  that 
higher  range  of  practice  which  gives  occasion  for  the  em 
ployment  of  the  subtlest  powers  of  intellect,  in  the  study 
and  development  of  the  great  principles  of  right."16 

*5  "  Law  was  designed  to  keep  a  State  in  peace ; 
To  punish  robbery,  that  wrong  might  cease ; 
To  be  impregnable,  a  constant  fort, 
To  which  the  weak  and  injured  might  resort." — Orabbe. 

16  «  \Ve  are  not  sent  into  this  world  to  do  anything  into  which 
we  cannot  put  our  hearts.  We  have  certain  work  to  do  for  our  bread, 
and  that  must  be  done  strenuously  ;  other  work  to  do  for  our  delight, 
and  that  is  to  be  done  heartily ;  neither  is  to  be  done  by  halves  or 
shifts,  but  with  a  will ;  and  what  is  not  worth  this  effort,  is  not  to  be 
done  at  all." — Ruskin. 

10 


110  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

In  this  sphere  of  forensic  life,  as  distinguished  from 
that  which  is  properly  assigned  to  the  advocate,  is  only 
to  be  achieved  that  best  renown  which  has  followed  the 
names  of  the  greatest  lawyers.17 

The  aspirations  after  a  noble  name  to  leave  as  a  rich 
inheritance,  which  were  frequently  expressed  by  Wirt, 
will,  no  doubt,  find  a  ready  response  in  the  heart  of  many 
a  young  man,  who  is  now  pressing  onward  in  life's 
career. 

"  The  idea  has  always  been  very  dismal  to  me,"  says 
Wirt,  "  of  dropping  into  the  grave,  like  a  stone  into  the 
water,  and  letting  the  waves  of  Time  close  over  me,  so 
as  to  leave  no  trace  of  the  spot  on  which  I  fall.  For 
this  reason,  at  a  very  early  period  of  my  youth,  I  resolv 
ed  to  profit  by  the  words  of  Sallust,  who  advises  that  if 
a  man  wishes  his  memory  to  live  forever  on  the  earth, 
he  must  either  write  something  worthy  of  being  always 
read,  or  do  something  worthy  of  being  written  and  immor 
talized  by  history.  Perhaps  it  is  no  small  degree  of 
vanity  to  think  myself  capable  of  either ;  but  I  have 
always  been  taught  to  consider  the  passion  for  fame  as 
not  only  innocent,  but  laudable,  and  even  noble.  I  mean 
that  kind  of  fame  which  follows  virtuous  and  useful 
actions." 

l?  "  The  lawyer  must  be  able  to  reason  from  the  noblest  princi 
ples  of  human  duty,  and  must  comprehend,  at  a  glance,  the  mighty 
maze  of  human  relations." — Everett. 


THE    LAWYER.  Ill 

Mr.  Wirt  occasionally  expresses  regret  that  his  own 
education  had  not  been  more  systematic,  and  his  reading 
less  desultory.  He  mentions  one  of  his  cotemporaries, 
"  whose  voice  had  all  the  softness  and  melody  of  the  harp, 
whose  mind  was  at  once  an  orchard  and  a  flower-garden, 
loaded  with  the  best  fruits,  and  smiling  in  all  the  many- 
colored  bloom  of  spring, — whose  delivery,  action,  style, 
and  manner,  were  perfectly  Ciceronian." 

These  very  attractive  qualities  Mr.  Wirt  contrasts 
with  the  sterner  ones  of  Marshall's  character. 

"Here  is  John  Marshall,  whose  mind  seems  to  be 
little  else  than  a  mountain  of  barren  and  stupendous 
rocks,  an  inexhaustible  quarry,  from  which  he  draws  his 
materials,  and  builds  his  fabrics,  rude  and  Gothic,  but  of 
such  strength  that  neither  time  nor  force  can  beat  them 
down ;  a  fellow  who  would  not  turn  off  a  single  step  from 
the  right  line  of  his  argument,  though  a  Paradise 
should  rise  to  tempt  him ;  yet  who,  all  dry  and  rigid  as 
he  is,  has  acquired  all  the  fame,  wealth,  and  honor  that 
a  man  need  desire.  There  is  no  theorizing  against  facts  ; 
Marshall's  certainly  is  the  true  road  to  solid  and  lasting 
reputation  in  courts  of  law.  The  habits  of  his  mind  are 
directly  those  which  an  accurate  and  familiar  acquaint 
ance  with  the  mathematics  generates." 

Mr.  Wirt  very  modestly  adds,  "  I  feel  so  sensibly 
my  own  deficiencies  in  this  mathematical  study,  that,  if 
Heaven  spares  my  son,  and  enables  me  to  educate  him,  I 


112  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

will  qualify  him  to  be  a  professor  in  it,  before  lie  shall 
know  what  poetry  and  rhetoric  are.  If  he  turns  out  to 
have  fancy  and  imagination,  he  will  then  be  in  less 
danger  of  being  run  away  with  and  unhorsed  by  them. 
If  he  be  for  the  bar,  I  shall  never  cease  to  inculcate 
Marshall's  method,  being  perfectly  persuaded  that  for 
courts,  especially  superior  and  appellative  courts  (where 
there  are  no  juries),  this  is  the  only  true  method." 


CHAPTER   FIFTEENTH. 

WILLIAM  WIB/TS  ADVICE  TO  A  YOtTNG-  LAWYER. 

"To  work  insatiably,  requires  much  leas  mind,  than  to  work  judiciously." 

IN  1806,  Mr.  Wirt  removed  to  Richmond.  The  fol 
lowing  excellent  advice  forms  a  part  of  a  letter  written 
about  this  period  to  a  young  lawyer,  in  whom  Mr.  Wirt 
felt  great  interest. 

"  Endeavor  to  cultivate  that  superior  grace  of  manners 
which  distinguishes  the  gentleman  from  the  crowd  around 
him.  In  your  conversation  avoid  a  rapid  and  indistinct 
utterance,  and  speak  deliberately  and  articulately. 

Blend  with  the  natural  hilarity  of  your  temper,  that 
dignity  of  sentiment  and  demeanor,  which  alone  can  pre 
vent  the  wit  and  humorist  from  sinking  into  a  trifler, 
and  can  give  him  an  effective  attitude  in  society. 

Get  a  habit,  a  passion ,  for  reading — not  flying  from 
book  to  book  with  the  squeamish  caprice  of  a  literary 
epicure, — but  read  systematically,  closely,  and  thought 
fully,  analyzing  every  subject  as  you  go  along,  and  lay 
ing  it  up  safely  and  carefully  in  your  memory. 

Determine  with  yourself  that  no  application  shall  be 
10* 


114  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

wanting  to  lift  you  to  the  heights  of  public  notice ;  and 
if  you  find  your  spirits  beginning  to  flag,  think  of  being 
buried  all  your  life  in  obscurity,  confounded  with  the 
gross  and  ignorant  herd  around  you.  But  there  are 
yet  more  animating  and  more  noble  motives  for  this  em 
ulation  :  the  power  of  doing  more  extensive  good — the 
pure  delight  of  hearing  one's  self  blessed  for  benevolent 
and  virtuous  actions,  and  as  a  still  more  unequivocal  and 
rapturous  proof  of  gratitude,  c  reading  that  blessing  in 
a  nation's  eyes  ;'  add  to  this,  the  communicating  the  ben 
eficial  effects  of  this  fame  to  our  friends  and  relations ; 
the  having  it  in  our  power  to  requite  past  favors,  and  to 
take  humble  and  indigent  genius  by  the  hand,  and  lead 
it  forward  to  the  notice  of  the  world.  These  are  a  few, 
and  but  a  few,  of  the  good  effects  of  improving  one's 
talents  to  the  highest  point,  by  careful  and  constant  study, 
and  aspiring  to  distinction." 

On  reviewing  his  past  life,  at  this  period,  Mr.  Wirt 
seems  to  have  been  forcibly  struck  with  the  warning 
and  encouragement  which  it  presented  to  young  men. 

"  I  have,  indeed,"  says  he,  "  great  cause  of  grati 
tude  to  Heaven.  In  reviewing  the  short 
course  of  my  life,  I  can  see  where  I  made  plunges  from 
which  nothing  less  than  a  Divine  hand  could  ever  have 
raised  me  ;  but  I  have  been  raised,  and  I  trust  that  my 
feet  are  now  upon  a  rock.  Yet,  can  I  never  cease  to  de 
plore  the  years  of  my  youth,  that  I  have  murdered  in 


THE    LAWYER.  115 

idleness  and  folly.  What  a  spur  should  this  reflection 
be  to  young  men  !" 

The  eloquent  author  of  the  Life  of  William  Wirt  says : 
"  We  have  remarked  of  Wirt,  that  his  life  is  peculiarly 
fraught  with  materials  for  the  edification  of  youth.  Its 
difficulties  and  impediments,  its  temptations  and  trials, 
its  triumphs  over  many  obstacles,  its  rewards,  both  in 
the  self-approving  judgment  of  his  own  heart,  and  in  the 
success  won  by  patient  labor  and  well-directed  study ; 
and  the  final  consummation  of  his  hopes,  in  an  old  age 
not  less  adorned  by  the  applause  of  good  men,  than  by 
the  serene  and  cheerful  temper  inspired  by  a  devout 
Christian  faith ;  all  these  present  a  type  of  human 
progress  worthy  of  the  imitation  of  the  young  and  the 
gifted." 

But  this  "  progress"  is  not  to  be  made  without  con 
stant  effort.  Wirt  in  his  figurative  style  thus  describes  it : 

"  You  will  find  it  pretty  much  of  an  Alp-climbing  busi 
ness.  The  points  of  the  rocks  to  which  you  cling  will 
often  break  in  your  hands,  and  give  you  many  a  fall  and 
many  a  bruise ;  but  instead  of  despairing  at  the  first 
fall,  or  the  twentieth,  remember  the  prospect  from  the 
summit  and  the  rich  prizes  that  await  you.  Up  with  a 
laugh,  catch  a  better  hold  next  time,  and  try  it  again." 

"  The  law  is  to  many,  at  first,  and  at  last,  too,  a  dry 
and  revolting  study.  It  is  hard  and  laborious  ;  it  is  a 
dark  arid  intricate  labyrinth,  through  which  they  grope 


116  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

in  constant  uncertainty  and  perplexity — the  most  painful 
of  all  states  of  mind.  But  you  cannot  imagine  that  this 
was  the  case  with  Lord  Mansfield  or  with  Blackstone,  who 
saw  through  the  whole  fabric  in  full  daylight  in  all  its 
proportions  and  lustre."  • 

The  pleasure  with  which  Wirt  entered  into  a  trial  of 
legal  strength,  after  he  had  "toiled  and  moiled"  in  his 
profession  for  many  years,  is  thus  expressed  : 

"  I  have  some  expectation  of  going  to  Washington  in 
February  to  plead  a  cause.  I  shall  be  opposed  to  the  At 
torney-General,  and  perhaps  to  PINCKNEY.  4  The  blood 
more  stirs  to  wake  the  lion  than  to  hunt  the  hare.'  I 
should  like  to  meet  them." 

To  the  friend  to  whom  he  has  so  frequently  addressed 
stimulating  arguments,  Mr.  Wirt  again  writes  : 

"  You  must  read,  sir  ;  you  must  read  and  meditate  like 
a  Conestoga  horse — no  disparagement  to  the  horse  by  the 
simile.  You  must  read  like  Jefferson,  and  speak  like 
Henry.  If  you  ask  me  how  you  are  to  do  this,  I  cannot 
tell  you,  but  you  are  nevertheless  to  do  it." 

"  By  the  way,  there  is  one  thing  I  had  like  to  have  for 
gotten.  One  of  the  most  dignified  traits  in  the  character 
of  (Patrick)  Henry,  is  the  noble  decorum  with  which  he 
debated,  and  the  uniform  and  marked  respect  with  which 
he  treated  his  adversaries.  I  am  a  little  afraid  of  you  in 
this  particular,  for  you  are  a  wit  and  a  satirist.  Take 
care  of  this  propensity.  It  will  make  you  enemies,  pull 


THE    LAWYER.  117 

a  bee-hive  on  your  head,  and  cover  your  forensic  path 
with  stings  and  venom.  Let  it  be  universally  agreed 
that  you  are  the  most  polite,  gentlemanly  debater  at  the 
bar.  That,  alone,  will  give  you  a  distinction,  and  a  noble 
one  too ;  besides,  it  is  a  striking  index  and  proper  con 
comitant  of  first-rate  talents. 

For  two  or  three  years  you  must  read,  delve,  medi 
tate,  study,  and  make  the  whole  mine  of  the  law  your 
own. 

Let  me  use  the  privilege  of  my  age  and  experience  to 
give  you  a  few  hints,  which,  now  that  you  are  beginning 
the  practice,  you  may  find  not  useless. 

1.  Adopt  a  system  of  life,  as  to  business  and  exercise  ; 
and  never  deviate  from  it,  except  so  far  as  you  may  be  oc 
casionally  forced  from  it  by  imperious  and  uncontrolla 
ble  circumstances. 

2.  Live  in  your  office  ;  that  is,  be  always  in  it  except 
at  the  hours  of  eating  and  exercise. 

3.  Answer  all  letters  as  soon  as  they  are  received ; 
you  know  not  how  many  heart-aches  it  may  save  you. 
Then  fold  neatly,  and  file  away  neatly,  alphabetically, 
and  by  the  year,  all  the  letters  so  received.     Let  your 
letters  of  business  be  short,  and  keep  copies  of  them. 

4.  Put  every  law  paper  in  its  place  as  soon  as  received, 
and  let  no  scrap  of  paper  be  seen  lying  for  a  moment  on 
your  writing-chair  or  tables. 

5.  Keep  regular  accounts  of  every  cent  of  income  and 


118  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

expenditure,  and  file  your  receipts  neatly,  alphabetically, 
and  by  the  month,  or,  at  least,  by  the  year. 

6.  Be  patient  with  your  foolish  clients,  and  hear  all 
their  tedious  circumlocution  and  repetition  with  calm  and 
kind  attention ;  cross-examine  and  sift  them  until  you 
know  all  the  strength  and  weakness  of  their  cause,  and 
take  notes  of  it  at  once,  whenever  you  can  do  so. 

7.  File   your  bills   in   Chancery    at  the   moment  of 
ordering  the  suit,  and  while  your  client  is  still  with  you 
to  correct  your  statement  of  his  case  ;  also,  prepare  every 
declaration  the  moment  the  suit  is  ordered,  and  have  it 
ready  to  file. 

8.  Cultivate  a  simple  style  of  speaking,  so  as  to  be 
able  to   inject  the  strongest  thought  into  the  weakest 
capacity.     You  will  never  be  a  good  jury  lawyer  without 
this  faculty. 

9.  Never  attempt  to  be  grand  and  magnificent  before 
common  tribunals, — and  the  most  you  will  address  are 
common. 

10.  Keep   your  Latin    and    Greek,  and   science,  to 
yourself,  and  to  the  very  small  circle  which  they  may 
suit.     The  mean,  envious  world  will  never  forgive  you 
your  knowledge,  if  you  make  it  too  public.     It  will  re 
quire  the  most  unceasing  urbanity  and  habitual  gentle 
ness  of  manners,  almost  to  humility,  to  make  your  superior 
attainments  tolerable  to  your  associates. 

11.  Enter  with  warmth  and  kindness  into  the  interesting 


THE    LAWYER.  119 

concerns  of  others — not  with  the  consciousness  of  a 
superior,  but  with  the  tenderness  and  simplicity  of  an 
equal. 

12.  Be  never  flurried  in  speaking,  but  learn  to  as 
sume  the  exterior  of  composure  and  collectedness,  what 
ever  riot  and  confusion  may  be  within;  speak  slowly, 
firmly,  distinctly,  and  make  your  periods  by  proper 
pauses,  and  a  steady,  significant  look. 

You  talk  of  complimenting  your  adversaries.  Take 
care  of  your  manner  of  doing  this.  Let  it  be  humble 
and  sincere,  and  not  as  if  you  thought  it  was  in  your 
power  to  give  them  importance  by  your  fiat.  These 
maxims  are  all  sound  ;  practice  them,  and  I  will  warrant 
your  SUCCESS." 


CHAPTER   SIXTEENTH. 

WIRT    AND    PINCKNEY 

THE  long-wished-for  contest  with  Pincknej  at  length 
took  place.  He  "  had  broken  a  lance"  with  the  legal 
giant,  and  had  not  been  crushed  in  the  encounter. 

"  Pincknej  was  at  this  time  in  the  zenith  of  his  fame. 
He  was  the  chief  object  of  interest  in  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  the  most  prominent  subject  of  popular  criticism.  No 
man  ever  drew  forth  a  larger  share  of  mingled  applause 
and  censure.*' 

Nothing  could  be  more  diverse  than  the  distinctive 
characters  of  the  eloquence  of  Pincknej  and  of  Wirt. 
On  this  account,  it  was  difficult  for  the  latter  at  once  to 
appreciate  the  talents  and  skill  of  the  former,  which  he, 
subsequentlj,  fullj  acknowledged.  Yet  one  can  perceive, 
from  the  following  extracts  from  a  letter,  written  bj  Wirt 
after  this  first  encounter,  that  he  felt  the  weight  and  the 
point  of  that  "  lance"  which  he  had  so  ardently  longed 
to  meet. 

"  I  wish  I  had  been  trained  to  industry  and  method," 
says  Wirt,  "  and  whipped  out  of  those  lazj  and  saunter- 


THE    LAWYER.  121 

ing  habits  which  fastened  about  me  early,  and  have  held 
the  'fee  simple  of  the  bark'  ever  since.  Your  truly 
great  man  does  more  business,  and  has  more  leisure,  and 
more  peace  of  conscience,  and  more  positive  happiness, 
than  any  forty  of  your  mediocre  persons.  This  is  hu 
miliating  to  me,  and  I  don't  like  to  think  of  it,  but  do  you 
profit  by  it. 

"  I  was  near  him  (Pinckney)  five  or  six  weeks,  and 
watched  him  narrowly.  He  has  nothing  of  the  rapid  and 
unerring  analysis  of  Marshall ;  but  he  has,  in  lieu  of  it, 
a  dogmatizing  absoluteness  of  manner  which  passes  for  an 
evidence  of  power  with  the  million,  which,  by-the-by,  in 
cludes  many  more  than  we  should  at  first  suspect ;  and 
he  has  acquired  with  those  around  him  a  sort  of  papal  in 
fallibility. 

"  Socrates  confessed  that  all  the  knowledge  he  had 
been  able  to  acquire  seemed  only  to  convince  him  that  he 
knew  nothing.  This  frankness  is  one  of  the  most  char 
acteristic  traits  of  a  great  mind.  Pinckney  would  make 
you  believe  that  he  knows  everything. 

"  At  the  bar  he  is  despotic,  and  cares  as  little  for  his 
colleagues  or  adversaries  as  if  they  were  men  of  wood. 
He  has  certainly  much  the  advantage  of  any  of  them  in 
forensic  show.  Give  him  time — and  he  requires  not  much 
— and  he  will  deliver  a  speech  which  any  man  might  be 
proud  to  claim.  You  will  have  good  materials,  very  well 
put  together,  and  clothed  in  a  costume  as  magnificent  as 
11 


122  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

that  of  Louis  XIV. ;  but  you  will  have  a  vast  quantity 
of  false  fire,  besides  a  vehemence  of  intonation,  for  which 
you  see  nothing  to  account  in  the  character  of  the  thought. 
His  arguments,  when  I  heard  him,  were  such  as  would 
have  occurred  to  any  good  mind  of  the  profession." 

Wfrt  evidently  felt  dissatisfied  with  himself;  indeed, 
he  said,  after  this  first  rencontre  with  his  formidable  an 
tagonist,  "  A  mean  and  sneaking  figure  I  made  in  that 
cause ;  I  was  never  more  displeased  with  any  speech  I 
have  made  since  I  commenced  practice." 

Mr.  Wirt  had  strong  predilections  for  literature,  and, 
from  time  to  time,  indulged  his  taste  in  writing.  The 
British  Spy,  the  Old  Bachelor,  and  the  Life  of  Patrick 
Henry,  are  all  well  known  to  the  reading  public ;  but 
as  we  are  considering  him  only  as  the  lawyer,  it  would 
be  irrelevant  to  mention  more  particularly  his  literary 
success. 

"  The  following  letter  from  the  President,"  says  Mr. 
Kennedy,  a  contained  a  summons  which,  it  is  said,  and,  I 
believe,  truly  said,  was  altogether  unexpected,  as  it  was 
certainly  unsought  by  him  to  whom  it  was  addressed." 

JAMES  MONROE  TO  WILLIAM  WIRT 

("PaiVATE.) 

"  WASHINGTON,  October  29th,  1819. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :— 

"  The  vacancy  made  in  the  office  of  Attorney- General 
of  the  United  States,  by  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Rush 


THE    LAWYER.  123 

Minister  to  England,  enables  me  to  offer  it  to  your  ac 
ceptance.  Highly  respecting  your  talents,  and  having 
long  entertained  a  sincere  friendship  for  you,  I  need  not 
add  that  it  would  be  very  gratifying  to  me  to  find  that 
this  proposition  accorded  with  your  interest  and  views. 
Should  this  be  the  case,  I  hope  that  it  will  be  convenient 
to  you  to  join  us  at  an  early  day,  as  there  are  many  sub 
jects  of  great  importance  requiring  early  attention. 

* c  A  visit  to  Richmond  to  attend  to  your  engagements 
there,  after  the  expiration  of  a  few  weeks,  would  not,  I 
presume,  interfere  with  your  duties  here. 

"  I  am,  dear  sir,  with  sincere  regard, 

"  Yours,  .     JAMES  MONROE." 

Mr.  Wirt  accepted  this  appointment,  and  continued  in 
the  office  through  the  administration  of  Mr.  Monroe  and 
his  successor,  John  Quincy  Adams. 

The  advice,  which  Wirt  reiterates,  from  time  to  time, 
to  the  young  lawyer  in  whom  he  took  a  paternal  interest, 
.is  invaluable  to  every  aspirant  after  eminence  in  the  pro 
fession. 

He  says,  "  Don't  be  in  a  hurry  to  distinguish  yourself ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  do  not  hang  back  too  long.  Let 
the  occasion  of  your  first  display  be  good,  and  your  prep 
aration  ripe. 

"  On  all  occasions,  private  and  public,  throw  the  utmost 
modesty  and  the  most  scrupulous  delicacy  into  your  man- 


124  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

ner,  and  be  more  disposed  to  have  your  scientific  knowledge 
drawn  from  you  than  to  volunteer  a  display  of  it. 

"  Read  law  like  a  horse.  Pursue  it  indefatigably,  and 
suffer  no  butterfly's  wings,  stones,  &c.,  to  draw  you  aside 
from  it. 

"  In  your  arguments  at  the  bar,  let  argument  strongly 
predominate.  Sacrifice  your  flowers,  and  let  your  col 
umns  be  Doric  rather  than  Composite — the  better  me 
dium  is  Ionic. 

"  Aim  at  the  character  of  strength,  cogency,  compre 
hension,  and  imitate,  of  all  things,  Judge  Marshall's  and 
Locke's  simple  process  of  reasoning.  The  world  will  ever 
give  sanction  to  this  as  the  truest  criterion  of  mind." 

Mr.  Wirt,  after  having  several  times  encountered  him, 
seems  fully  to  have  appreciated  his  great  rival,  Pinck- 
ney.  He  says  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Wirt,  "  Pinck- 
ney  commenced  his  speech  to-day,  and  spoke  throughout 
it.  He  is  really  a  fine  creature  in  his  profession ;  has  a 
fertile  and  noble  mind." 

Again  he  says :  "  I  expect  to  go  to  Baltimore  again 
next  month,  and  to  have  another  grapple  with  Glendower 
Pinckney.  A  debate  with  Pinckney  is  exercise  and  health. 
I  find  much  pleasure  in  meeting  him.  His  reputation  is 
so  high  that  there  is  no  disparagement  in  being  foiled  by 
him,  and  great  glory  in  even  dividing  the  palm." 

He  also  renders  the  following  tribute  to  the  greatness 
of  Chief  Justice  Marshall : 


THE    LAWYER.  125 

"  Marshall  spoke  to  the  judgment  merely,  and  for  the 
simple  purpose  of  convincing.  He  was  justly  pronounced 
one  of  the  first  men  of  the  country,  was  followed  by 
crowds,  looked  upon  and  courted  with  every  evidence  of 
admiration  and  respect  for  the  great  powers  of  his  mind. 
Marshall's  maxim  seems  always  to  have  been,  c  aim  ex 
clusively  at  strength,'  and,  from  his  eminent  success,  I 
say,  if  I  had  my  life  to  go  over  again,  I  would  practice 
on  his  maxim  with  the  most  rigorous  severity  until  the 
character  of  my  mind  was  established." 


CHAPTER   SEVENTEENTH. 

THE  CLOSING  SCENE. 

"  He  sent  his  hopes  on  high — 
And  reaped  the  fields  of  heaven." 

AFTER  having  filled  the  office  of  Attorney-General  for 
twelve  years,  Mr.  Wirt  resumed  unofficial  practice  at  the 
bar,  and  this  he  continued  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

In  January,  1834,  he  repaired  to  Washington  to  at 
tend  the  usual  term  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He  was 
present  at  the  sittings  of  the  court  until  the  8th  of  Feb 
ruary.  On  Sunday,  the  9th,  he  attended  church  at  the 
Capitol,  and  walked  the  distance  of  a  mile  in  the  cold, 
damp  air.  From  that  time,  "  Death  approached  with  a 
steady  pace,"  and,  on  the  morning  of  the  18th,  the  la 
mented  Wirt  had  departed  to  the  "better  land." 

The  Supreme  Court  adjourned  on  hearing  the  sad 
news.  A  meeting  of  the  bar  was  called,  which  Daniel 
Webster  addressed  as  follows  : — 

"  It  is  announced  to  us  that  one  of  the  ablest,  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  members  of  this  bar,  has  departed 
this  mortal  life.  William  Wirt  is  no  more !  He  has 
this  day  closed  a  professional  career,  among  the  longest 


THE    LAWYER.  127 

and  most  brilliant  which  the  distinguished  members  of  the 
profession  in  the  United  States  have  at  any  time  accom 
plished.  Unsullied  in  everything  which  regards  profes 
sional  Tionor  and  integrity,  patient  of  labor,  and  rich  in 
those  stores  of  learning  which  are  the  reward  of  patient 
labor,  and  patient  labor  only  ;  and  if  equaled,  yet  cer 
tainly  allowed  not  to  be  excelled  in  fervent,  animated,  and 
persuasive  eloquence,  he  has  left  an  example,  ivhich  those 
who  seek  to  raise  themselves  to  great  heights  of  profes 
sional  eminence  will,  hereafter,  carefully  study.  Fortu 
nate,  indeed,  will  be  the  few  who  shall  imitate  it  success 
fully  ! 

"  As  a  public  man,  it  is  not  our  peculiar  duty  to  speak 
of  Mr.  Wirt  here.  His  character,  in  that  respect,  belongs 
to  his  country,  and  to  the  history  of  his  country.  And,  sir, 
if  we  were  to  speak  of  him  in  his  private  life  and  his  social 
relations,  all  we  could  possibly  say  of  his  urbanity,  his 
kindness,  the  faithfulness  of  his  friendships,  and  the 
warmth  of  his  affections,  would  hardly  seem  sufficiently 
strong  and  glowing  to  do  him  justice  in  the  feeling  and 
judgment  of  those  who,  separated  now  forever  from  his 
embraces,  can  only  enshrine  his  memory  in  their  bleeding 
hearts.  Nor  may  we,  sir,  more  than  allude  to  that  other 
relation,  which  belonged  to  him,  and  belongs  to  us  all ; 
that  high  and  paramount  relation  which  connects  man 
with  his  Maker.  It  may  be  permitted  us,  however,  to 
have  the  pleasure  of  recording  his  name  as  one  who  felt 


128  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

a  deep  sense  of  religious  duty,  and  who  placed  all  his 
hopes  of  the  future  in  the  truth  and  in  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity. 

"  But  our  particular  ties  to  him  were  the  ties  of  our  pro 
fession.  He  was  our  brother,  and  he  was  our  friend. 
With  talents  powerful  enough  to  excite  the  strength  of 
the  strongest,  with  a  kindness  both  of  heart  and  manner 
capable  of  warming  and  winning  the  coldest  of  his  breth 
ren,  he  has  now  completed  the  term  of  his  professional 
life,  and  of  his  earthly  existence,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
high  respect  and  cordial  affections  of  us  all." 

The  biographer  of  Wirt  thus  gives  the  crowning  glory 
to  his  character  : — 

"  As  life  advanced,  his  convictions  of  the  truth  and 
value  of  the  Christian  revelation,  and  of  the  duties  it  im 
posed  upon  him,  became  more  earnest  and  profound.  He 
devoted  a  portion  of  his  time,  every  day,  to  the  reading 
of  the  Scriptures ;  engaged  in  a  comprehensive  study  of 
theology  ;  cultivated  habits  of  prayer  and  meditation, 
which  he  promoted  and  encouraged  throughout  his  fami 
ly.  In  short,  the  latter  years,  especially,  of  Mr.  Wirt's 
life,  furnish  us  the  spectacle  of  a  highly-gifted,  thought 
ful,  and  accomplished  mind,  stimulated  by  a  fervent  and 
sincere  piety,  and  employed  in  the  promotion  of  every 
good  work  suggested  by  enlightened  benevolence  or 
Christian  duty." 


CHAPTER  EIGHTEENTH. 

GENERAL     LEARNING-. 

"  Perhaps  the  self-approving,  haughty  world, 
Receives  advantage  from  his  hours 
Of  which  she  little  dreams."— Cowper. 

"  Learned,  wise,  judicious." 

AMONG  the  many  terms  which  have  been  bestowed 
upon  the  age  in  which  we  live,  it  may  not  have  been 
called  a  sympathizing  age ;  yet  such,  in  truth,  it  is. 
Knowledge  being  universally  diffused,  the  electric  chain 
of  sympathy  passes  from  the  hard-handed  artisan  to  the 
chief  justice  upon  the  bench. 

A  lawyer  may  no  longer  confine  his  studies  to  the  dry, 
musty  tomes  of  a  law-library.  He  must  survey  the  wide 
domains  of  science,  in  the  fruitful  gardens  of  literature 
he  may  gather  ripe  clusters,  and  in  the  great  human 
museum  he  must  study  and  dissect  human  character. 

It  is  not  enough  that  he  be  wise  and  learned  in  his 
own  profession,  but  he  must  commend  himself  to  the 
minds  of  other  men,  and  gain  their  respect,  by  show 
ing  that  he  is  not  ignorant  of  what  concerns  their  dearest 


130  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

interests.  "  There  are  those  who  look  upon  this  as  a  diffi 
cult,  if  not  an  absolutely  hopeless  matter;  but  herein 
they  greatly  mistake.  Let  an  individual  come  to  consider 
it  as  a  high,  moral  duty,  that  he  should  be  always  grow 
ing  in  knowledge,  and  let  him  form  a  distinct  and  reso 
lute  purpose,  that  the  stock  of  his  acquisitions  shall  be 
continually  enlarging,  though  it  be  by  the  smallest  de 
grees,  and  it  will  be  a  matter  of  surprise,  even  to  himself, 
how  easily,  how  delightfully,  how  effectually,  this  high 
resolve  is  carried  into  execution.  With  his  faculties  al 
ways  awake,  and  the  avenues  for  useful  information  al 
ways  open,  he  will  discover  a  thousand  opportunities  for 
improvement,  which  another  would  allow  to  escape ;  he 
will  not  disdain  the  humblest  contribution  to  his  knowl 
edge  from  the  humblest  man  in  society ;  nay,  he  will 
take  lessons  by  night  and  by  day,  even  from  the  objects 
of  inanimate  nature,  for  here,  especially,  are  open  to 
him  some  of  the  sublimest  fields  of  science  and  philoso 
phy.  His  profession  may  be  an  active  and  laborious 
one,  insomuch  that  he  is  driven  to  make  his  nights  short 
and  his  days  long. 

"Above  all, he  takes  advantage  of  a  systematic  arrange 
ment  of  his  duties ,  and  an  economical  distribution  of  his 
time  ;  he  has  his  hours  for  business  and  his  hours  for 
study,  and  though  he  is  always  occupied,  he  is  never  in 
a  hurry.  It  is  in  vain  to  say  that  this  representation  is 
merely  imaginary,  for  there  are  examples,  many  exam- 


THE    LAWYER.  131 

pies,  both  among  the  dead  and  the  living,  to  illustrate 
its  practicability."* 

The  first  example  we  shall  give  is  that  of  the  late  la 
mented  HUGH  S.  LEGARE.  The  extraordinary  powers  and 
varied  attainments  of  the  late  Attorney- General  were  the 
product  of  early  and  incessant  culture,  and  of  untiring 
industry  and  labor.  How  else  could  such  rare  excellence, 
in  so  many  different  departments  of  human  talent  and 
knowledge,  have  been  acquired  ?  for  he  was  primus  inter 
pares  in  all — a  finished  scholar,  a  consummate  orator,  a 
profound  lawyer,  an  able  and  accomplished  statesman. 
No  felicity  of  genius,  however  great,  no  fecundity  of  na 
ture,  however  teeming,  could  account  for  such  intellectual 
riches,  without  the  creative  energies  of  constant  and  un 
wearied  diligence  ;  for  it  is  a  truth,  as  applicable  to  the 
philosophy  of  mind  as  to  the  science  of  political  economy, 
that  labor  is  the  true  and  only  source  of  either  mental  or 
material  wealth.  No  paltry  vanity  of  natural  endow 
ments  ever  prevented  Mr.  Legare  from  bearing  earnest 
and  instructive  testimony  in  his  discourse,  as  he  exem 
plified  so  strikingly  in  his  practice,  to  the  truth  and  value 
of  this  grand  arcanum  of  all  sound  superiority  and  suc 
cess. 

Having  enjoyed,  in  early  youth,  the  advantages  of  a 
finished  education  in  the  best  schools  of  his  own  country 

*  William  B.  Sprague,  D.D, 


132  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

and  of  Europe,  he  continued,  through  all  the  avocations 
and  active  employments  of  his  future  life,  the  same  hab 
its  of  diligent  and  enthusiastic  study  by  which  he  estab 
lished  at  first  a  marked  pre-eminence  among  his  school 
fellows. 

He  was  smitten  with  a  sympathetic  appreciation  of  the 
great  Roman  orator's  noble  panegyric  of  letters  : — Hac 
studia,  etc.')  delectant  domi,  non  impediitnt  foris,  per- 
noctant  nobiscum,  peregrinatur,  rusticantur. 

His  books  were  his  inseparable  companions,  whether 
at  home  or  abroad.  They  passed  the  night  with  him ; 
they  traveled  with  him;  they  accompanied  him  in  his 
occasional  rural  retreats.  A  jealous  economist  of  time, 
and  particularly  attentive  to  husband  those  fragments  of 
leisure  which  irregularly  intervene  in  the  routine  of  daily 
employment,  and  which,  by  most  persons,  are  thrown 
away  as  useless,  he  was  more  fortunate,  even,  than  the 
ancient  philosopher  who  reproached  himself  with  the  loss 
of  one  day  in  the  course  of  a  long  life.  Legare  never 
lost  an  hour;  for,  however  small  the  interval  of  time 
which  fell  upon  his  hands  unoccupied  by  the  necessary 
demands  of  business,  or  the  cherished  society  of  a  chosen 
circle  of  friends,  it  was  never  wasted.  A  book,  a  pen, 
or  a  train  of  thought  to  be  resumed,  was  always  at  hand 
to  absorb  and  employ  it  usefully, 

As  a  scholar,  he  stood  wiithout;  a  rival  among  the  pub 
lic  men  of  America  of  his  day,  and  if,  even  in  that  class 


THE    LAWYER.  133 

of  learned  men  who  make  the  cultivation  and  pursuit  of 
letters  the  sole  business  of  their  lives,  he  had  any  supe 
rior  in  scholarship,  it  would  be  difficult  to  say  who  that 
superior  was.  His  acquaintance  with  the  great  writers 
of  antiquity,  the  master-minds  of  Greece  and  Rome,  was 
intimate,  thorough,  and  familiar — placing  at  his  ready 
and  perfect  command  all  those  exquisite  models  of  taste, 
eloquence,  and  power,  which  lie  enshrined  in  their  im 
mortal  works.  In  the  languages  and  literature  of  modern 
Europe  he  was ,  perfectly  at  home.  He  not  only  read,' 
but  wrote  and  spoke  the  languages  of  France  and  Germany 
with  the  ease  and  elegance  of  a  native,  and  was  pro 
foundly  versed  in  their  history  and  literature.  He  had 
explored,  with  particular  industry  and  success,  the  rich 
mines  of  learning  and  historical  discovery  (so  to  speak), 
which  the  acute  and  recondite  researches  of  modern  Ger 
man  writers  have  opened,  and  enlarged  his  own  accumu 
lated  stores  by  the  superaddition  of  the  fruits  of  their 
valuable  labors.  With  all  this  affluence  of  intellectual 
wealth,  he  made  no  ostentatious  display  of  his  acquisi 
tions.  They  were  assimilated  into  the  solid  nutriment 
of  his  own  mind,  and  their  effect  was  seen,  rather  in  the 
enlarged  scope  and  vigor  of  his  conceptions,  than  in  any 
exhibition  of  mere  learning. 

To  the  question,  was  he  an  eminent  lawyer,  Judge 
Story,  in  his  beautiful  and  touching  address  to  the  law- 
school  at  Harvard,  while  the  funeral  bells  of  Boston  were 
12 


134  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

yet  tolling  the  knell  of  his  departed  spirit,  answered  em 
phatically  and  unhesitatingly,  "  No  man  was  more  so." 
And  certainly,  if  a  profound  acquaintance  with  the  most 
renowned  systems  of  ancient  and  modern  law,  with  the 
common  law  of  England,  the  civil  law  of  Rome,  the 
codes  of  France  and  Germany,  added  to  a  familiar 
knowledge  of  the  laws  and  constitution  of  our  own  coun 
try,  and  a  thorough  indoctrination  in  the  principles  of 
universal  jurisprudence,  can  make  an  able  and  accom 
plished  lawyer,  Legare  was  such. 

One  of  the  great  secrets  of  his  superiority  was,  to  place 
ever  before  him  the  highest  standards  of  excellence  in 
every  department  as  the  beau  ideal,  at  least,  which  a  true 
and  lofty  ambition  should  aim  to  approximate  as  near  as 
possible,  if  not  able  fully  to  attain. 

His  idea  of  the  nobleness  and  grandeur  of  the  law,  in 
its  true  dignity,  was  that  which  Bolingbroke  has  so  just 
ly  and  eloquently  portrayed,  and  his  impersonations  of 
that  idea  were  the  Bacons,  the  Clarendons,  the  Somers, 
the  Mansfields  of  England, — the  Marshalls,  the  Pinck- 
neys  of  America.18 

18  In  his  letters  on  the  study  of  history  addressed  to  Lord  Corn- 
bury,  Bolingbroke,  after  speaking  of  the  profession  of  the  law  as 
"  in  its  nature  the  noblest  and  most  beneficial  to  mankind,  in  its  abuse 
and  debasement,  the  most  sordid  and  the  most  pernicious,"  makes  the 
following  remarks,  admirable  alike  for  their  eloquence  and  truth  : — 
"  There  have  been  laAvyers  that  were  orators,  philosophers,  historians 
— there  have  been  Bacons  and  Clarendons,  my  lord.  There  will  be 
none  such  any  more,  till,  in  some  better  age,  true  ambition,  or  the  love 


THE    LAWYER.  135 

The  narrow  and  unworthy  prejudice  against  learning, 
as  incompatible  with  professional  eminence,  which  has 
been  properly  rebuked  by  Judge  Story,  sometimes  ven 
tured  to  question  the  claims  of  Mr.  Legare  to  the  char 
acter  of  an  able  lawyer,  on  the  very  ground  of  his  ac 
knowledged  pre-eminence  in  the  attainments  of  elegant 
literature.  The  same  Gothic  prejudice,  we  learn  from 
cotemporary  memorials,  boldly  called  in  question  the  le 
gal  abilities  of  Lord  Mansfield,  and  was  humorously  sat 
irized  at  the  time,  in  some  lines  of  Pope,  in  which  the 
poet  represents  two  heavy  sergeants  of  the  temple,  c  who 
deemed  each  other  oracles  of  law,'  exulting,  with  a 
grave  self-complacency,  in  the  fancied  profoundness  of 
their  own  legal  attainments,  while 

'  Each  bliook  his  head  at  Murray  as  a  wit.' 

And  yet  this  Murray  rapidly  rose,  through  all  the  grada 
tions  of  professional  eminence,  to  the  chief  justiceship  of 
the  King's  Bench,  in  which  court  he  presided  with  unri- 


of  fame,  prevails  over  avarice,  and  till  men  find  leisure  and  encour 
agement  to  prepare  themselves  for  the  exercise  of  this  profession  by 
climbing  up  to  the  vantage-ground, — so  my  Lord  Bacon  calls  it, — of 
science  ;  instead  of  groveling  all  their  lives  below,  in  a  mean,  but 
gainful  application  to  all  the  little  arts  of  chicane.  Till  this  happen, 
the  profession  of  the  law  will  scarce  deserve  to  be  ranked  among  the 
learned  professions ;  and  whenever  it  happens,  one  of  the  vantage- 
grounds  to  which  men  must  climb  is  metaphysical,  and  the  other  his 
torical  knowledge." 


136  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

valed  lustre  and  ability  for  thirty- two  years,  having  been 
thrice  offered  the  great  seal  of  Lord  Chancellor ;  and 
such  was  the  almost  miraculous  infallibility  displayed  by 
him  as  a  judge,  that  out  of  the  numerous  decisions  ren 
dered  by  him  during  that  long  period  of  time,  but  two 
or  three  of  his  judgments  were  ever  reversed,  and  about 
an  equal  number  of  instances  occurred  in  which  any  of 
his  brethren  differed  in  opinion  from  him.  With  such  an 
illustrious  example  before  us,  we  shall  be  slow  to  believe 
that  the  superior  literary  accomplishments  of  Mr.  Le- 
gare  were  likely  to  prove  a  hinderance  to  him  in  the  path 
of  professional  reputation  and  success,  or  to  prevent  him 
from  fulfilling  his  destiny,  in  becoming  one  of  the  chief  - 
est  glories  of  the  American  bar."* 

THEOPHILUS  PARSONS,  late  Chief  Justice  of  the  Su 
preme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  was  termed  the  giant  of 
the  law  ;  the  living  oracle  of  the  law  ;  and  yet  he  found 
time  during  all  his  legal  career  to  attend  to  literary  and 
scientific  pursuits.  His  classmate  and  chum,  at  Harvard 
University,  Judge  Tudor,  used  to  say,  "  Parsons,  after 
the  usual  college  exercises,  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  his 
slate  and  amusing  himself  with  some  deep  mathematical 
calculation,  and  would  vary  his  recreation  by  reading 
some  tale  or  novel,  it  seeming  indifferent  to  him  which  of 
these  amusements  first  fell  in  his  way."  Chief  Justice 

*  Hon.  William  C.  Rives. 


THE    LAWYER.  137 

Parker  remarks,  "  I  have  within  the  last  seven  years  of  his 
life  found  him  indulging  the  same  propensity — finding 
him  with  his  slate  and  pencil  so  deeply  engaged  that  I 
would  not  disturb  him  for  some  minutes  after  my  en 
trance,  and  not  unfrequently  as  deeply  engaged  in  some 
modern  novel  or  other  work  of  fancy." 

While  studying  law,  Parsons  kept  the  grammar-school 
in  Falmouth,  now  Portland,  in  Maine,  an  occupation  than 
which  none  is  more  calculated  to  promote  the  habit  of 
accurate  as  well  as  severe  study.  The  teacher  finds  that 
a  superficial  acquaintance  with  the  knowledge  he  under 
takes  to  impart  will  not  answer  his  purpose,  and  is  driv 
en  by  necessity  to  the  closest  attention  and  investigation 
of  details.  At  that  important  period  of  education,  hav 
ing  mastered  the  usual  studies  of  the  college,  the  mind 
begins  to  mature,  and  the  habits  of  thought  and  study 
are  first  formed  which  have  the  most  decided  influence 
upon  the  intellectual  character. 

But  Parsons  had  even  at  an  earlier  period  disciplined 
his  mind  by  close  application.  The  companions  of  his 
childhood  testify  that  even  that  period  of  life  was  marked 
by  mental  labor  and  study,  and  that  the  season  of  the 
greatest  temptation  to  pleasure,  youth,  was  one  of  perse 
vering  acquisition.  They  say  that  he  seemed  to  possess 
the  wisdom  and  experience  of  those  who  had  been  men 
long  before  him. 

Judge  Parker,  in  an  eloquent  eulogium  upon  Chief  Jus- 
12* 


138  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

tiee  Parsons,  said,  "  Those  of  us  who  have  seen  him  lay 
open  his  vast  stores  of  knowledge  in  later  life,  unaided 
by  recent  acquirement,  and  relying  more  upon  memory 
than  research,  can  account  for  his  greatness  only  by  sup 
posing  a  patience  of  labor  in  youth,  which  almost  ex 
hausted  the  sources  of  information,  and  left  him  to  act, 
rather  than  to  study,  at  a  period  when  others  are  but  be 
ginning  to  acquire." 

His  familiar  and  critical  knowledge  of  the  Greek  arid 
Latin  tongues,  so  well  known  to  the  literati  of  this 
country,  and  to  some  of  the  most  eminent  abroad,  was 
the  fruit  of  his  early  labors,  preserved,  and  perhaps  ri 
pened  in  maturer  years,  but  gathered  in  the  spring-time 
of  life.  His  philosophical  and  mathematical  knowledge 
were  of  the  same  early  harvest,  as  were  also  his  logical 
and  metaphysical  powers.  Had  he  died  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  I  am  persuaded  that  he  would  have  been 
held  up  to  youth  as  an  instance  of  astonishing  and  suc 
cessful  perseverance  in  the  severest  employments  of  the 
mind." 

The  following  anecdote  will  prove  that  Mr.  Justice 
Parsons  was  known  as  a  Greek  scholar  abroad  : — 

"  Some  years  since,  Mr.  Vanderkemp,  formerly  of 
Ley  den,  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Luzac,  professor  of 
the  Greek  language,  &c.,  in  the  University  of  Leyden, 
confessedly  the  first  Greek  scholar  of  his  day  in  Europe, 
in  which  letter  Mr.  Luzac  inquired  of  Mr.  Vanderkemp, 


THE    LAWYER.  139 

whether  he  had  made  acquaintance  with  a  Mr.  Parsons, 
of  Boston,  of  whom  he  had  heard  that  he  was  called,  in 
America,  '  the  giant  of  the  law.'  How  well  Mr.  Par 
sons  might  be  entitled  to  this  appellation,  Mr.  Luzac 
said  he  could  not  judge  ;  but  he  could  of  his  own  knowl 
edge  affirm  that  he  was  '  a  giant  in  Greek  criticism.' 
Professor  Luzac' s  opinion  was  founded  on  a  correspond 
ence  he  held  with  the  Chief  Justice,  relative  to  some  rare 
editions  of  Greek  authors  which  could  not  be  obtained 
then,  either  in  this  country  or  in  England." 

As  an  instance  of  the  persevering  application  of  Par 
sons,  it  is  mentioned  that  he  resumed  the  study  of  Greek 
after  he  was  forty  years  old,  when  his  eldest  son  was  fit 
ting  for  college. 

There  is  in  existence  a  manuscript  Greek  grammar 
which  he  began  to  write,  because  there  was  then  no  gram 
mar  of  that  language  in  English ;  but  before  his  gram 
mar  was  completed,  the  Gloucester  Greek  grammar  was 
published,  and  he  laid  it  aside. 

The  celebrated  Dr.  Bowditch,  in  his  Practical  Navi 
gator,  when  on  the  subject  of  lunar  observations,  men 
tions  a  method  of  correcting  the  apparent  distance  of  the 
moon  from  the  sun,  and  says,  "  It  is  an  improvement  on 
Witchell's  method,  and  was  made  in  consequence  of  a 
suggestion  from  a  gentleman  eminently  distinguished  for 
his  mathematical  acquirements."  Chief  Justice  Par 
sons  was  the  gentleman  alluded  to.  Dr.  Bowditch  also 


140  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

received  some  communications  from  him  on  the  subject 
of  the  comet  which  at  that  time  made  its  appearance, 
which  showed  ingenuity  and  scientific  learning.19  His 
knowledge  in  astronomy,  mechanics,  chemistry,  and  elec 
tricity  was  great. 

"  Parsons  left  an  immense  mass  of  manuscripts ;  but 
none  intended  for  the  press.  The  greater  part  were  on 
legal  subjects  ;  almost  as  many,  however,  were  mathe 
matical  ;  and  there  were  some  on  various  topics  of  relig 
ion,  philosophy,  and  science.  He  had  been  heard  to 
say,  that  after  he  had  been  studying  any  particular  sub 
ject,  he  liked  to  write  upon  it,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
clearness  and  precision  to  his  thoughts. 

"  He  was  fond  of  mechanical  employments,  and  had 
a  large  collection  of  tools,  with  which  he  often  amused 
himself,  and  would  leave  the  gravest  study  to  make  a 
plaything  for  his  boys,  or  show  them  how  to  make  one. 
He  entered  into  all  the  enjoyments  of  his  children,  and 
increased  them  by  his  active  sympathy." 

"  Neither  philosophers  nor  children  could  leave  his  so 
ciety  without  being  improved  or  entertained.  Amid  the 
multifarious  occupations  of  his  mind  in  business  and  sci- 

19  "  He  had  in  his  library  books  in  Hebrew,  French,  and  Italian, 
which  he  occasionally  read.  Besides  a  very  large  and  valuable  libra 
ry,  he  had  a  collection  of  astronomical  and  scientific  instruments  im 
ported  for  him  by  his  intimate  friend,  the  late  Dr.  Prince,  of  Salem. 
It  was  considered  the  best  collection  then  possessed  by  any  private 
person,  and  he  made  frequent  use  of  it." 


THE    LAWYER  141 

entific  pursuits,  he  had  still  found  room  for  all  the  lighter 
literature,  and  was  ready  for  his  critique  even  upon  the 
ephemeral  works  of  fancy  and  taste." 

"  He  was  accessible,  familiar,  and  communicative, 
never  morose  or  ill-natured,  a  patron  of  literature  and 
literary  men,  a  warm  friend  to  the  clergy  and  to  the  in 
stitutions  of  religion  and  learning,  and  a  most  ardent  ad 
mirer  and  promoter  of  merit  among  the  young.20 

"  Parsons  could  leave  the  theological  controversy,  the 
mathematical  problem,  or  the  legal  inquiry,  and  enter  at 
once  with  spirit  and  interest  into  domestic  conversation, 
and  even  into  children's  sports." 

Were  all  these  varied  acquirements,  and  this  intense 
sympathy  with  his  fellow-beings,  a  hinderance  to  Parsons 
in  his  legal  career  ?  Let  one  of  his  cotemporaries  at  the 
bar  answer. 

"  Never  was  fame  more  early  or  more  just,  than  that 
of  Parsons  as  a  lawyer.  At  an  age  when  most  of  the 
profession  are  but  beginning  to  exhibit  their  talents  and 
to  take  a  fixed  rank  at  the  bar,  he  was  confessedly,  in 

20  The  zealous  attention  of  the  Chief  Justice  to  the  interests  of 
Harvard  University,  while  he  was  a  member  of  the  corporation,  are 
generally  known.  He  was  also  one  of  the  supervisory  committee  of 
a  grammar  school  in  Boston.  He  generally  took  the  lead  in  the  ex 
amination,  and  besides  his  extraordinary  knowledge  of  Greek  and 
Latin,  his  presence  was  useful  in  other  respects.  He  so  interested 
the  boys  with  anecdotes  of  the  men  and  the  times  about  which  they 
were  reading,  as  to  render  their  examinations  pleasant  instead  of  be 
ing  formidable  to  them. 


142  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

point  of  profound  legal  knowledge,  among  the  first  of 
its  professors. 

"  At  that  early  period  of  his  life,  his  most  formidable 
rival,  and  most  frequent  competitor,  was  the  accom 
plished  lawyer  and  scholar,  the  late  Judge  Lowell,  who 
was  considerably  his  senior,  but  who  entertained  the 
highest  respect  for  the  general  talents  and  judicial  skill 
of  his  able  competitor.  It  was  the  highest  intellectual 
treat  to  hear  these  great  men  contending  for  victory  in 
the  judicial  forum.  Lowell,  with  all  the  ardor  of  the 
most  impassioned  eloquence,  assaulting  the  hearts  of  his 
auditors,  and  seizing  their  understandings  also,  with  the 
most  cogent  as  well  as  the  most  plausible  arguments ; 
Parsons,  cool,  steady,  and  deliberate,  occupying  every 
post  which  was  left  uncovered,  and  throwing  in  his  for 
ces  wherever  the  zeal  of  his  adversary  had  left  an  open 
ing.  Notwithstanding  this  almost  continual  forensic  war 
fare,  they  were  warm  personal  friends,  and  freely  ac 
knowledged  each  other's  merits. 

"  The  other  eminent  men  of  that  day,  with  whom  Par 
sons  was  brought  to  contend,  did  full  justice  to  his  great 
powers.  I  have  myself  heard  the  late  Governor  Sulli 
van  declare  that  he  was  the  greatest  lawyer  living." 

"  That  distinguished  lawyer  and  statesman,  Rufus 
King,  of  New  York,  having  finished  his  education  at  our 
university  (Harvard),  at  an  age  when  he  was  qualified  to 
choose  his  own  instructor,  placed  himself  under  the  tui- 


THE    LAWYER.  143 

tion  of  Parsons,  and  probably  it  was  owing  in  some  meas 
ure  to  the  wise  lessons  of  the  master,  as  well  as  to  the 
great  talents  of  the  scholar,  that  the  latter  acquired  a 
celebrity,  during  the  few  years  he  remained  at  the  bar, 
seldom  attained  in  so  short  a  professional  career." 

"  Among  men  eminent  themselves,  I  do  not  disparage 
others  by  placing  Parsons  at  the  head,"  continues  his  el 
oquent  eulogist :  "  they  were  great  men,  he  was  a  wonder 
ful  man.  Like  the  great  moralist  of  England,  he  might 
be  surrounded  by  men  of  genius,  literature,  and  science, 
and  neither  he  nor  they  suffer  by  a  comparison." 

May  the  life  and  celebrity  of  this  great  man  stimu 
late  the  young  to  diligence  and  perseverance  in  their 
studies,  so  that  at  some  future  time  one  may  rise  up 
among  them  fit  to  supply  his  place  in  public  estima 
tion.* 

Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  long  a  distinguished  member  of  the 
Philadelphia  bar,  was  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  but  afford 
ing  as  he  does  an  example  of  great  literary  attainments 
in  addition  to  legal  acquirements,  a  sketch  of  his  life  and 
character  will,  it  is  believed,  be  found  both  useful  and 
entertaining. 

PETER  S.  Du  PONCEAU  was  born  in  1760,  at  the  little 
town  of  St.  Martins,  in  the  Isle  of  Re,  on  the  western  coast 
of  France.  Before  the  age  of  six  years  he  had  learned  by 
heart  a  Latin  and  French  vocabulary, — an  indication  of  his 

*  Chief  Justice  Parsons  died  in  1813,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three. 


144  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

future  taste  for  languages.  At  the  grammar  school  which 
he  soon  after  attended,  this  fondness  for  languages  was 
still  farther  developed.  He  met  one  day,  at  a  neighbor's 
house,  with  an  English  grammar.  What  trifles  often 
decide  the  future  destiny  ! 

"  Childlike,"  says  Du  Ponceau,  "  I  was  delighted  with 
the  letters  K  and  w,  which  my  eyes  had  not  been  accus 
tomed  to  see.  I  took  the  book  home,  and  began  to  study 
the  English  language.  My  progress  was  rapid.  There 
were  English  and  Irish  families  in  the  town.  I  had  a 
good  ear  and  flexible  organs,  soon  spoke  English,  and  be 
came  a  perfect  Jlnglomane.  I  devoured  Milton,  Thom 
son,  Young,  Pope,  Shakspeare.  I  also  wrote  English  cor 
rectly.  I  have  English  verses  (bad  enough,  to  be  sure), 
but  which  were  addressed  to  me  from  Rochelle  by  a  young 
Englishman,  when  I  was  but  twelve  years  of  age.  I 
learned  a  great  deal  of  English  poetry  by  heart,  much 
of  which  I  retain  to  this  day." 

In  the  same  manner  Du  Ponceau  acquired  the  Italian 
language.  His  fondness  for  English  studies  continued 
after  he  entered  college ;  he  was  never  without  an  Eng 
lish  classic  in  his  pocket,  and  received  from  his  compan 
ions  the  sobriquet  of  V Anglais. 

He  left  college  at  the  early  age  of  fifteen.  His  father 
had  just  deceased,  and  his  mother  insisted  upon  his  ta 
king  orders  in  the  Romish  Church.  He  had  imbibed  the 
principles  of  the  Reformation,  and  resisted  for  a  long 


THE    LAWYER.  145 

time,  but  was  ultimately  compelled  to  submit,  a  took  the 
tonsure,  and  became  Monsieur  VJlbbe." 

The  youthful  abb6  was  sent  by  the  Bishop  of  Rochelle 
to  a  college  in  Poitou  as  a  regent.  There  he  instructed 
a  class  in  the  Latin  language.  The  other  regents,  who 
were  older  men,  became  jealous  of  the  boy  of  fifteen. 
They  excited  the  pupils  to  pelt  him  with  apples  and  to 
annoy  him  in  every  possible  way,  untrl  life  became  intol 
erable,  and  he  resolved  to  quit  the  place  and  throw  him 
self  upon  the  wide  world.  "  For  the  sake  of  truth,"  he 
says,  "  I  must  add,  that  I  was  also  induced  to  this  step 
by  my  religious  scruples  ;  and,  to  be  perfectly  candid,  by  a 
restless  disposition,  and  a  spirit  of  adventure,  which  made 
me  see  everything  in  bright  colors  before  me." 

On  Christmas  day,  1775,  leaving  all  his  luggage  be 
hind,  he  sallied  forth  at  daybreak,  with  the  u  Paradise 
Lost"  in  one  pocket  and  a  clean  shirt  in  the  other,  on 
his  way  to  the  great  capital  of  France.  There  he  ar 
rived  in  the  beginning  of  January,  1776,  with  the  firm 
resolution  of  depending  from  that  moment  on  his  own  ex 
ertions  alone  for  subsistence,  and  for  whatever  fortune 
might  await  him. 

"  Behold  me  now  in  Paris,"  he  exclaims,  "  at  the  age 
of  fifteen,  with  a  light  heart  and  still  lighter  purse.  But 
I  was  full  of  hope,  I  had  buoyant  spirits,  and  saw  every 
thing  couleur  de rose!" 

The  father  of  Du  Ponceau  was  a  military  man,  and 
13 


146  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

two  years  before  this  time  had  solicited  the  place  of  Lieu 
tenant- Governor  of  Versailles,  which  office  he  was  on  the 
point  of  obtaining  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

At  Versailles  the  young  Du  Ponceau  was  well  received 
by  his  father's  acquaintances.  The  Baron  de  Mont- 
morency  blamed  him  for  leaving  the  post  of  instructor, 
but  yet  treated  him  kindly. 

Being  disappointed  in  an  application  for  a  clerkship  in 
one  of  the  departments,  he  left  Versailles  and  returned 
to  Paris.  Here  he  made  himself  independent  for  the 
time,  by  translating  English  works  and  commercial  let 
ters,  and  by  giving  lessons  in  English  and  French. 

Da  Ponceau,  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  after  his 
return  to  Paris,  became  acquainted  with  Count  de  Gebe- 
lin,  a  celebrated  philologer,  who  offered  to  take  him  as 
his  secretary.  This  offer  was  gladly  accepted,  and  with 
him  Du  Ponceau  remained  for  six  or  eight  months,  at 
which  time  he  left  for  America. 

The  Baron  Steuben,  who  was  a,bout  to  sail  for  this 
country,  was  in  want  of  a  secretary  who  could  speak  and 
write  the  English  language;  the  young  Du  Ponceau 
suited  him  exactly. 

They  sailed  together  from  Marseilles,  and  landed  at 
Portsmouth,  in  New  Hampshire,  on  the  1st  of  Decem 
ber,  1777. 

Baron  Steuben  and  his  secretary  soon  left  Portsmouth, 
and  thence  went  to  Boston,  where,  among  other  distin- 


THE    LAWYER.  147 

guished  persons,  they  met  John  Hancock  and  Samuel 
Adams. 

Du  Ponceau  says  he  was  at  that  time  a  stern  Republi 
can,  and  had  been  so  from  the  first  moment  that  he  be 
gan  to  reflect.  <c  I  shall  never  forget,"  he  says,  "  the 
compliment  paid  me  by  Samuel  Adams,  on  his  discover 
ing  my  republican  principles." 

"  Where,"  said  he  to  me,  "did  you  learn  all  that?" 

"  In  France,"  replied  I. 

"  In  France  !  That  is  impossible  !"  Then  recover 
ing  himself,  he  added,  "  Well,  because  a  man  was  born 
in  a  stable,  it  is  no  reason  why  he  should  be  a  horse." 
"  I  thought  to  myself,"  adds  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  "  that  in 
matters  of  compliment  they  ordered  these  things  better 
in  France  !" 

Baron  Steuben  proceeded  to  Yorktown.  Congress  ap 
pointed  a  committee  to  confer  with  him  on  the  subject  of 
his  pretensions,  and  were  not  a  little  surprised  when  he 
informed  them,  that  all  his  ambition  was  to  serve  as  a 
volunteer  in  their  army.  All  the  favor  that  he  asked 
was,  that  MM.  Depontiere  and  Du  Ponceau  should  have 
the  rank  of  captain,  which  was  immediately  granted. 

Du  Ponceau  prided  himself  upon  this  honor,  and  it  was 
as  a  surviving  captain  of  infantry,  of  the  army  of  the 
Revolution,  that  he  received  a  pension  until  the  day  of 
his  death. 

The  privations  of  the  army  during  the  winter  spent  at 


148  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

Valley  Forge  are  matters  of  history.  Whilst  there, 
Baron  Steuben  was  appointed  a  Major-general  of  the 
United  States  army.  Du  Ponceau  was  still  the  secretary 
of  the  Baron,  and  his  aid-de-camp. 

At  the  close  of  the  campaign  of  1779,  they  took  up 
their  winter-quarters  in  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Du  Ponceau 
was  there  attacked  with  symptoms  of  pulmonary  disease, 
and  the  physicians  pronounced  it  incurable. 

"  I  gave  up.^Esculapius  and  his  disciples,  and  deter 
mined  to  be  my  own  physician.  I  strove,  above  all 
things,  to  keep  up  my  spirits.  I  wrote  satirical  verses 
on  the  consumption,  and  determined  that  it  should  not 
consume  me." 

He  rode  frequently  on  horseback,  and  after  a  while 
recovered  his  health. 

On  the  25th  of  July,  1781,  Du  Ponceau  took  the  re 
quisite  oaths,  and  became  a  citizen,  as  he  expresses  it, 
"  of  the  great  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania."  "  Be 
hold  me,  then,"  he  adds,  "  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
having  entered  with  them  into  a  solemn  compact,  to  which 
I  have  faithfully  adhered,  and  which  I  have  never  re 
pented." 

"  Mr.  Robert  R.  Livingston,  Chancellor  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  having  been  appointed  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  Mr.  Du  Ponceau  was  strongly  recommended  to 
him  as  an  assistant.  To  this  office  he  was  recommended 
by  Governor  McKean  and  Judge  Peters." 


THE    LAWYER.  149 

In  Mr.  Livingston's  office  Mr.  Du  Ponceau  continued 
till  the  close  of  the  war.  He  then  determined  to  study 
law,  and  for  that  purpose,  entered  the  office  of  Mr.  Wil 
liam  Lewis,  of  Philadelphia,  whom  he  regarded  as,  at  the 
time,  the  most  celebrated  lawyer  .in  that  city. 

In  1T85,  Mr.  Du  Ponceau  was  admitted  an  attorney 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  In  the  following  year  he 
was  admitted  to  full  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State. 

"  Mr.  Du  Ponceau  was  now  busily  engaged  in  the  active 
exercise  of  an  honorable,  laborious,  and  lucrative  avoca 
tion  ;  but,  as  he  himself  said,  the  life  of  a  lawyer,  in  the 
full  practice  of  his  profession,  offers  very  little  but  the 
dull  and  dismal  round  of  attendance  upon  courts,  hard 
studies  at  night,  and,  in  the  day,  fatiguing  exertions, 
which,  however  brilliant,  are  confined  to  a  narrow  thea 
tre,  and  leave  nothing  behind  but  a  blaze  of  reputation 
and  the  echo  of  a  name." 

"  The  reports  of  the  different  courts  show  that  he  was 
constantly  engaged,  often  in  most  important  suits ;  and 
on  questions  of  civil  and  foreign  law,  his  opinion  was 
justly  held  in  the  highest  estimation.  In  the  intervals 
of  his  arduous  occupation,  he  found  leisure  to  translate 
several  valuable  foreign  works  on  law,  and  to  write  inter 
esting  essays  on  professional  subjects,  some  of  which  were 
published.  So  high  was  Mr.  Du  Ponceau's  reputation, 
at  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  as  a  learned 
13* 


150  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

jurist,  in  the  Roman  and  French  laws  more  especially, 
that  the  important  office  of  Chief  Judge  of  Louisiana  was 
offered  him  by  President  Jefferson,  but  he  declined  it." 

In  1827,  Mr.  Du  Ponceau  was  created  Doctor  of  Laws, 
and  was  also  elected  a  corresponding  member  of  the 
French  Institute  in  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions. 

In  1835,  the  prize  of  Linguistique  was  awarded  him 
for  a  memoir  on  the  Indian  languages  of  North  America. 
Of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  and  of  the  His 
torical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  he  was  president  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  was  also  president  of  the  Athe 
naeum. 

"  Science  and  literature,"  says  Du  Ponceau,  "  are  the 
glory  of  a  state.  The  noble  acqueducts,  temples,  roads 
of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  have  perished,  but  their  lit 
erary  fame  will  last  forever.  If  England  were  sunken 
into  the  ocean,  her  fame  would  be  perpetuated  by  the 
works  of  her  admirable  historians,  philosophers,  and 
poets."* 

"  The  study  of  different  languages,"  said  he,  "  has  led 
me  into  a  more  impartial  view  of  the  character  of  the 
different  nations  of  the  world,  of  their  virtues,  and  of 
their  foibles.  I  love  the  country  of  my  choice,  and  have 
no  political  attachment  to  any  other." 

Such  were  the  sentiments  entertained  by  him  from  the 
moment  he  became  a  citizen  of  the  country.  A  more 

*  Appendix  D. 


THE    LAWYER.  151 

patriotic,  American  heart  never  beat  in  an  American 
bosom. 

Mr.  Du  Ponceau  died  in  1844,  in  the  eighty-fourth 
year  of  his  age. 

The  various  societies  of  which  he  was  an  officer  de 
plored  the  loss  they  had  sustained,  as  that  of  one  "  whose 
pre-eminent  acquirements  as  a  philosopher,  and  zeal  for 
the  promotion  of  useful  knowledge,  were  equaled  only  by 
the  integrity  of  his  principles  and  the  practical  virtues  of 
his  life."  The  bar  of  Philadelphia  lamented  a  venerable 
brother,  whose  profound  learning  and  varied  accomplish 
ments  had,  for  more  than  fifty  years,  distinguished  him, 
and  shed  lustre  on  the  profession. 


CHAPTER  NINETEENTH. 

RELIGIOUS  PRINCIPLES. 

CHIEF   JUSTICE    TILGHMAN    AND    CHARLES    CHAUN- 
CEY,  ESQ. 

"  Cast  thine  eye  apon  the  sages  of  the  law  that  have  been  before  thee,  and  never  shalt 
thon  find  any  one  that  hath  excelled  in  the  knowledge  of  these  laws,  but  hath  drawn 
from  that  divine  knowledge  gravity  and  integrity." — Lord  Coke. 

THE  trite,  hackneyed  jokes  about  the  dishonesty  of 
lawyers,  as  a  class,  have  been  again  and  again  refuted 
by  the  lives  of  some  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  pro 
fession.  Many  such  burning  and  shining  lights  might  be 
held  up  for  the  guidance  and  encouragement  of  the  young 
man  who  deems  the  profession  one  which  casts  insur 
mountable  obstacles  in  the  paths  of  integrity  and  piety. 
Unless  the  highest  aim  of  mortal  existence,  preparation 
for  a  future  state,  were  attainable  by  the  lawyer,  his 
success  would  not^be  considered  complete.  Examples 
have  already  been  given  of  men  who  based  their  morality 
upon  deeply-fixed  religious  principles  ;  we  shall  add  to 
these  but  two  others,  namely,  the  late  Chief  Justice 
Tilghman  and  the  late  Charles  Chauncey,  Esq.,  both  of 
Philadelphia. 


THE    LAWYER.  153 

The  character  of  the  chief  justice  was  drawn  by  the 
Hon.  Horace  Binney.  His  moral  qualities  were  of  the 
highest  order.  It  has  been  said,  that  the  panegyrists  of 
great  men  can  rarely  direct  the  eye  with  safety  to  their 
early  years,  for  fear  of  lighting  upon  the  traces  of  some 
irregular  passion.  But  to  Justice  Tilghman  may  with 
justice  be  applied  the  praise  of  the  Chancellor  D'Agues- 
seau,  that  he  was  never  known  to  take  a  step  out  of  the 
narrow  path  of  wisdom,  and  that  it  was  sometimes  re 
marked,  if  he  had  been  young,  it  was  for  the  purpose,  not 
of  palliating  a  defect,  but  of  doing  greater  honor  to  his 
virtues.  Of  his  early  life,  few  of  his  cotemporaries  re 
main  to  speak ;  but  those  few  attest  what  the  harmony 
of  his  whole  character  in  later  years  would  infer,  that  his 
youth  gave  presage,  by  its  sobriety  and  exemplary  recti 
tude,  of  all  that  we  witnessed  and  admired  in  the  matu 
rity  of  his  character.* 

It  is  great  praise  to  say  of  so  excellent  a  judge,  that 
there  was  no  contrariety  between  his  judgments  and  his 
life  ;  that  there  was  a  perfect  consent  between  his  public 
and  his  private  manners ;  that  he  was  an  engaging  ex 
ample  of  all  he  taught ;  and  that  no  reproach,  which,  in 
his  multifarious  employment,  he  was  compelled  to  utter 
against  all  the  forms  of  injustice,  public  and  private,  so- 

*  "  One  of  those  who  need  not  the  smart  of  guilt  to  make  them  virtu 
ous,  nor  t'  e  regret  of  folly  to  make  them 


154  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

cial  and  domestic,  against  all  violations  of  law,  from 
crime  down  to  those  irregularities  at  which,  from  general 
infirmity,  there  is  a  general  connivance,  in  no  instance 
did  the  sting  of  his  reproach  wound  his  own  bosom. 
Yet  it  was  in  his  life  only,  and  not  in  his  pretensions, 
that  you  discerned  this,  his  fortunate  superiority  to 
others.  In  his  private  walks  he  was  the  most  unpretend 
ing  of  men.  He  bore  constantly  about  him  those  char 
acteristics  of  true  greatness,  simplicity  and  modesty. 

The  temper  of  the  chief  justice  was  singularly  placa 
ble  and  benevolent.  It  was  not  in  his  power  to  remem 
ber  an  injury.  A  few  days  before  his  death  he  said  to  two 
of  his  friends,  attendant  upon  that  scene,  "  I  am  at  peace 
with  all  the  world.  I  bear  no  ill-will  to  any  human  being, 
and  there  is  no  person  in  existence  to  whom  I  would  not 
do  good  and  render  a  service,  if  it  were  in  my  power. 
No  man  can  be  happy  who  does  not  forgive  injuries  which 
he  may  have  received  from  his  fellow-creatures."  How 
suitable  was  this  noble  conclusion  to  his  whole  life  !  What 
a  grace  did  this  spirit  impart  to  his  own  supplications  ! 
This  was  not  a  counterfeit  virtue,  assumed  when  the 
power  to  retaliate  was  wasted  by  disease.  It  was  not  the 
mere  overflow  of  a  kindly  nature,  unschooled  by  that  di 
vine  science  which  teaches  benevolence  as  a  duty.  In 
his  own  eulogium  upon  his  eminent  friend,  Dr.  Wistar, 
he  says  : — "  Vain  is  the  splendor  of  genius  without  the 
virtues  of  the  heart.  No  man  who  is  not  good  deserves 


THE    LAWYER.  155 

the  name  of  wise.  In  the  language  of  Scripture,  folly 
and  wickedness  are  the  same ;  not  only  because  vicious 
habits  do  really  corrupt  and  darken  the  understanding, 
but  because  it  is  no  small  degree  of  folly  to  be  ignorant, 
that  the  chief  good  of  man  is  to  know  the  will  of  his 
Creator,  and  to  do  it." 

It  was  under  the  influence  of  this  sentiment  that  his 
fortune  became  a  refuge  to  the  unfortunate,  far  more 
than  his  unostentatious  manners  imported.  He  was  gen 
tle,  compassionate,  charitable  in  many  of  the  senses 
which  make  charity  the  first  of  virtues ;  and  long  after 
his  leaves  and  branches  were  all  torn  away,  there  was 
more  than  one*  that  reposed  in  the  shade  of  his  venerable 
trunk.  His  closing  years  finely  illustrated  the  remark, 
that  the  heart  of  a  good  man  is  like  a  good  soil  which  is 
made  more  fertile  by  the  ploughshare  that  tears  it  and 
lays  it  open, — or  like  those  plants  which  give  out  their 
best  odors  when  they  are  broken  and  crushed. 

An  interesting  record  which  the  venerable  Judge 
Tilghman  left  behind  him,  acquaints  us  with  many  of 
his  most  private  thoughts,  and  presents  him  in  a  relation 
which  no  man  can  renounce,  and  which,  when  duly  ob 
served,  is  the  appropriate  light  wherein  to  behold  an  em 
inent  judge— the  relation  of  man  to  his  Creator. 

His  birth-day,  the  12th  of  August,  was  habitually  appro 
priated  to  the  review  of  the  past  year,  to  self-examination, 
and  to  intercourse  with  God  ;  and  it  will  not  be  deemed 


156  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

irreverent  to  cast  an  affectionate  eye  upon  this  record, 
and  to  draw  encouragement  and  counsel  from  the  touching 
disclosure  it  makes  of  his  fortitude,  resignation,  and  piety. 

When  he  completed  his  forty-eighth  year  he  says  : — 
"  My  health  is  good,  my  constitution  unimpaired,  but  I 
am  deeply  impressed  with  the  uncertainty  of  life.  Let 
me  prepare  to  follow  the  numerous  friends  who  have  left 
the  world  before  me.  The  last  stage  of  my  residence  on 
earth  is  approaching.  Time  is  precious.  I  must  not 
suffer  it  to  be  wasted  in  indolence,  or  thrown  away  on 
light  amusements.  I  have  endeavored  during  the  course 
of  this  day  to  strengthen  my  mind  with  virtuous  resolu 
tions,  and  I  hope  my  endeavors  have  not  been  useless." 
He  then  repeats  the  resolutions  he  had  formed  for  the 
government  of  his  life,  among  which  is  that  of  "  letting 
no  day  pass  without  prostrating  himself  before  the  Su 
preme  Being,  in  meditation,  thanksgiving,  and  prayer  ;" 
and  he  concludes  his  memorial  by  offering,  as  he  ex 
presses  it,  "  with  a  grateful  heart,  his  unworthy  thanks 
to  the  Almighty  and  merciful  God,  for  past  favors  far 
exceeding  his  merits,  and  imploring,  with  all  humility, 
that  He  would  graciously  assist  his  weak  endeavors  to 
keep  the  resolutions  he  had  made.'' 

But  sore  afflictions  afterward  came  upon  Judge  Tilgh- 
man,  and  his  eloquent  eulogist  says,  "  Mark  with  what  a 
celestial  temper,  if  I  may  so  speak,  he  records  the  flight 
of  all  these  blessings." 


THE    LAWYER.  157" 

"  I  have  now  attained  the  age  of  sixty-one,  and  have 
survived  parents,  brothers,  sisters,  wife,  and  child.  But 
few  of  my  dearest  connections  remain  in  the  world.  May 
this  reflection  induce  me  so  to  use  the  short  remainder  of 
my  life  as  may  recommend  me  to  Thy  favor,  and  pro 
cure  me  the  happiness  of  once  more  meeting  my  depart 
ed  friends,  according  to  my  confident  hope.'' 

"  Observe  how  the  light  of  the  divine  philosophy  shone 
inward,  and  dispelled  the  gloom  in  which  unassisted  man 
would  have  sunk  to  despair." 

"  Great  God,  during  the  last  year  thou  hast  thrown 
me  on  the  bed  of  sickness,  and  raised  me  up  from  it. 
.Thou  hast  taken  from  me  my  last  earthly  hope.  I  sub 
mit  to  thy  providence,  and  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  me 
fortitude  under  all  my  afflictions.  I  am  sure  that  what 
ever  is  ordained  by  thee  is  right.  May  I  never  forget 
that  thou  art  always  present,  the  witness  and  judge  of 
my  actions  and  thoughts.  My  life_is  hastening  to  an 
end.  May  I,  by  thy  gracious  assistance,  so  employ  the 
remainder  of  it  as  not  to  be  altogether  unworthy  of  thy 
favor." 

On  the  last  anniversary  that  he  ever  saw,  he  begins 
his  paper  with  the  prophetic  declaration, — "  This  day 
completes  my  seventieth  year,  the  period  which  is  said 
to  bound  the  life  of  man.  My  constitution  is  impaired, 
but  I  cannot  sufficiently  thank  God  that  my  intellect  is 
sound,  that  I  am  afflicted  with  no  painful  disease,  and 
14 


158  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

that  sufficient  health  remains  to  make  life  comfortable. 
I  pray  for  the  grace  of  the  Almighty  to  enable  me  to 
walk,  during  the  short  remnant  of  life,  in  His  ways. 
Without  His  aid  I  am  sensible  that  my  efforts  are 
unavailing.  May  I  submit  with  gratitude  to  all  His 
dispensations,  never  forget  that  he  is  the  witness  of 
my  actions,  and  even  of  my  thoughts,  and  endeavor  to 
love,  honor,  and  obey  Him  with  all  my  heart,  soul,  and 
strength." 

"It  is  no  longer  wonderful  that  this  venerated  man 
performed  his  duties  to  universal  acceptance,  when  we 
discern  the  spirit,  better  far  than  the  genius  of  Socrates, 
from  which  he  asked  counsel.  The  -ancients  would  have 
said  of  him,  that  he  lived  in  the  presence  of  all  the  dei 
ties,  since  prudence  was  never  absent  from  him.  The 

9 

holders  of  a  better  faith  must  say,  that  it  was  no  poeti 
cal  deity,  nor  to  the  counsels  of  his  own  mind,  but  to 
that  '  grace'  which  his  supplications  invoked  that  he 
owed  his  protection  from  most  of  the  lapses  to  which  fal 
lible  man  is  subject." 

"  His  course  does  not  exhibit  the  magnificent  variety 
of  the  ocean,  sometimes  uplifted  to  the  skies,  at  others 
retiring  into  its  darkest  caves, — at  one  moment  gay  with 
the  ensigns  of  power  and  wealth,  and  at  another  strewing 
its  shores  with  the  melancholy  fragments  of  shipwreck  ; 
but  it  is  the  equal  current  of  a  majestic  river,  which  safely 
bears  upon  its  bosom  the  riches  of  the  land,  and  reads  its 


THE    LAWYER.  159 

history  in  the  smiling  cities  and  villages,  that  are  reflect 
ed  from  its  unvarying  surface." 

On  Monday,  the  30th  of  April,  1827,  he  closed  his 
eyes  forever.  It  will  be  long,  very  long,  before  we  shall 
open  ours  upon  a  wiser  judge,  a  sounder  lawyer,  a  riper 
scholar,  a  purer  man,  or  a  truer  gentleman. 

CHARLES    CHAUNCEY. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  and  striking  delineations  of 
character  which  could  be  offered  for  the  study  of  young 
men,  is  one  recently  drawn  by  an  able  divine,*  of  that 
eminent  lawyer,  the  late  Charles  Chauncey,  of  Philadel 
phia. 

Mr.  Chauncey  was  a  native  of  New  Haven,  Connec 
ticut,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  College.  His  father  was 
a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Chauncey  had  completed  his  course  of 
preparatory  study,  and  had  been  admitted  to  the  bar,  he 
removed  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  passed  the  remainder 
of  his  eminently  useful  life. 

"  The  incorruptible  virtue,  the  radiant  example,  the 
untarnished  fame  of  Charles  Chauncey,  have  become 
part  of  the  moral  treasure  of  his  country.  I  leave  it  for 
others  to  sketch  his  intellectual  attributes  and  his  legal 

*  Rev.  Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.D. 


160  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

acquirements  ;  my  office  is  to  speak  of  him,  and  that 
briefly,  as  a  Christian. 

The  prime  quality  in  Mr.  Chauncey's  character  was 
integrity.  This  is  as  much  associated  with  his  name, 
wherever  he  was  known,  as  justice  is  with  that  of  Aris- 
tides.  It  is  impossible  to  speak  of  him  without  think 
ing  of  it,  as  it  was  impossible  to  converse  with  him  with 
out  feeling  that  you  had  to  do  with  a  man  of  inflexible 
probity.  If  there  are  men  who  are  honest  from  policy 
or  interest, — who  are  honest  in  great  matters,  but  lax  in 
small  matters — whose  perceptions  of  right  and  wrong 
are  quick  and  accurate  on  questions  affecting  other  peo 
ple's  affairs — he  was  not  one  of  them.  He  was  upright 
on  principle  and  from  preference.  The  love  of  truth 
and  right  was  part  of  his  being.  He  carried  it  into  ev 
ery  relation  and  circumstance  of  life.  It  controlled  his 
most  trivial  pecuniary  transactions  ;  it  presided  over  ev 
ery  scene  of  social  enjoyment,  even  those  in  which  he 
gave  full  play  to  his  refined  and  ardent  affections  ;  it 
breathed  through  every  sentence  he  uttered  at  the  bar, 
whether  in  one  of  those  luminous  and  eloquent  arguments 
with  which  he  often  captivated  the  court  and  jury,  or  in 
those  incidental  passages  between  opposing  counsel — the 
by-play  of  a  trial — in  which  truthful  men  sometimes  ex 
ceed  the  limits  of  sober  verity.  His  clients  knew  that 
the  advice  he  gave  them  was  given  in  all  sincerity,  and 
was  designed  for  their  good,  however  counter  it  might  be 


THE    LAWYER.  161 

to  their  wishes.  The  bench  and  the  jury  knew  they  were 
listening  to  a  man  who  was  a  stranger  to  deception  and 
finesse — a  man  who,  though  liable,  like  all  other  men,  to 
err,  could  not  act  a  part — who,  when  he  spoke,  uttered 
his  real  convictions,  and  believed  what  he  was  trying  to 
make  them  believe. 

There  have  been  lawyers  whose  profession  has  been  as 
distinct  from  their  personal  character  m  as  the  wig  and 
gown  of  an  English  barrister  from  the  barrister  himself; 
and  courts  and  juries  have  instinctively,  when  they  rose 
to  speak,  recognized  their  two-fold  nature.  But  they 
never  mistook  Mr.  Chauncey  for  one  of  this  hybrid  race. 
In  him  the  union  between  the  advocate  and  the  man  was 
not,  as  in  the  other  case,  a  mere  mechanical  conjunction, 
like  that  which  held  together  the  different  parts  of  Nebu 
chadnezzar's  image,  but  a  chemical  combination — an  in 
termixture  of  the  one  with  the  elements  of  the  other.* 
His  speeches,  therefore,  carried  with  them  all  the  weight 
of  personal  conviction — and  that,  in  the  case  of  a  man  so 
eminent  as  well  for  his  ability  and  his  wisdom  as  for  his 
integrity,  was  often  more  than  half  the  battle. 

It  were  well  for  the  younger  men  in  the  profession  to 
consider  the  great  value  of  such  a  reputation  for  integrity, 
simply  as  a  means  of  success.  They  may  gain  an  occa 
sional  triumph  by  deviating  from  the  line  of  strict  recti- 

"The  wise  man  does  good  just  as  he  breathes, — it  is  his  life." — 
Chinese  Maxim. 

14* 


162  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

tude,  and  the  prospect  of  winning  an  important  cause 
may  seduce  them  into  the  use  of  unfair  weapons  ;  but  a 
few  victories  achieved  in  this  way  will  ruin,  or  at  least 
seriously  injure  them.  To  a  young  lawyer  CHARACTER 
is  everything.  It  is  character,  not  learning,  not  astute 
ness,  not  eloquence,  which  is  the  basis  of  confidence ; 
and  "  confidence,"  especially  the  confidence  of  clients, 
and  judges  and  juries,  is  "  a  plant  of  slow  growth."  It 
is  a  sensitive  plant,  too ;  its  leaves  will  begin  to  curl  and 
wither  with  the  first  rude  breath  of  deceit  and  equivojga- 
tion.  The  youthful  advocate,  flushed  with  an  ill-gotten 
triumph,  little  divines  what  an  impression  he  has  made 
on  that  stern  jurist  on  the  bench,  and  even  upon  those 
emulous  associates  who  throng  around  him  with  their  con 
gratulations.  They  may  well  congratulate  a  rival  whose 
ovation,  like  those  the  Venetians  used  to  accord  to  their 
heroes,  is  the  pledge  of  his  early  downfall.  Let  those 
who  stand  on  the  threshold  of  this  noble  profession  learn 
from  the  example  of  that  eminent  man,  whose  loss  we 
now  deplore,  that  virtue  is  the  highest  wisdom — that 
virtue,  especially,  which  has  God  for  its  author  and  end, 
the  word  of  God  for  its  rule  of  duty,  and  the  love  of  God 
for  its  animating  principle.  In  this  divine  endowment, 
they  may  see  one  of  the  chief  implements  of  his  success. 
He  has  vindicated  the  profession  from  the  vulgar  cavil 
that  no  strictly  honest  man  can  be  a  lawyer,  and  shown 
that  the  bar  forms  no  exception  to  the  rule,  that  the  path 


THE    LAWYER.  163 

of  virtue  is  the  path  of  honor.  In  some  pregnant  crisis 
of  your  history,  when  temptation  proffers  you  its  golden 
fruit, 

"  Fair  to  the  eye,  inviting  to  the  taste," 
and  you  are  just  saying  to  yourselves, 

« What  hinders,  then, 

To  reach,  and  feed  at  once  both  body  and  mind  ?" 

it  may  recover  you  from  your  perilous  position  to  recall 
the  name  of  one  who  maintained  an  unspotted  reputa 
tion  amidst  the  conflicts  and  enticements  of  the  bar  for 
upward  of  fifty  years,  and  whose  pure  fame  is  unsullied 
by  a  single  mean  or  dishonorable  action. 

Mr.  Chauncey  was  no  less  distinguished  for  his  benevo 
lence  than  for  his  integrity.  I  do  not  allude  in  this  re 
mark  merely  to  the  charity  which  goes  out  in  alms-giv 
ing,  or  in  contributions  to  ecclesiastical  and  religious  ob 
jects.  This,  when  prompted  by  right  motives,  is  a 
charity  of  high  esteem  in  the  sight  of  God  ;  indeed,  our 
Saviour  teaches  us  that  if  we  are  destitute  of  it,  we  may 
scarcely  presume  to  think  we  are  Christians.  But  the 
benevolence  of  Mr.  Chauncey  included  a  great  deal  more 
than  this.  He  was  essentially  an  unselfish  man.  He 
had  a  heart  as  well  as  a  head.  And  his  heart  was  large 
enough  to  take  in  some  others,  besides  his  own  family 
and  immediate  friends.  He  was  always  ready  to  employ 
his  great  powers  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  the  injured, 


164  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

the  helpless  ;  to  extend  to  them  "  the  charity  of  time, 
labor,  and  attention  ;  the  protection  of  those  whose  re 
sources  are  feeble,  and  the  information  of  those  whose 
knowledge  is  small."  This  was  so  well  understood,  that 
there  was  probably  no  man  in  this  community  who  was 
so  much  resorted  to  for  counsel.  He  was  so  wise,  so 
candid,  so  kind,  and  entered  so  readily  into  the  circum 
stances  and  feelings  of  his  clients,  that  people  of  all  de 
scriptions  sought  his  advice  on  all  sorts  of  subjects.' 

Distinguished  counselors,  young  lawyers,  and  possibly 
grave  judges,  with  their  vexed  questions,  capitalists  seek 
ing  investments,  embarrassed  merchants,  guardians  per 
plexed  to  know  what  to  do  with  their  wards,  parents  to  con 
sult  him  about  their  children,  widows  anxious  to  secure 
their  little  property,  together  with  suitors  of  various  kinds, 
— such  were  the  groups  that  not  unfrequently  met  at  his 
levees.  And  they  went  there  because  they  knew  they 
could  confide  to  him  domestic  matters  which  they  could 
scarcely  breathe  in  the  ear  of  another  human  being  ;  and 
that,  when  they  had  stated  their  case  to  him,  he  would 
give  them  judicious  advice,  made  doubly  acceptable  by  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  given.  He  might  without  pre 
sumption  have  appropriated  the  language  of  Job  :  "  When 
the  ear  heard  me,  then  it  blessed  me ;  and  when  the  eye 
saw  me,  it  gave  witness  to  me.  Because  I  delivered  the 
poor  that  cried,  and  the  fatherless,  and  him  that  had 
none  to  help  him.  The  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready 


THE    LAWYER.  165 

to  perish  came  upon  me,  and  I  caused  the  "widow's  heart 
to  sing  for  joy.  I  put  on  righteousness,  and  it  clothed 
me  ;  my  judgment  was  as  a  robe  and  a  diadem.  I  was 
eyes  to  the  blind,  and  feet  was  I  to  the  lame.  I  was  a 
father  to  the  poor ;  and  the  cause  which  I  knew  not  I 
searched  out.  And  I  brake  the  jaws  of  the  wicked,  and 
I  plucked  the  spoil  out  of  his  teeth."  Among  all  the 
monumental  memorials  which  grace  our  cemeteries,  there 
is  not  one  which  might  with  more  propriety  receive  these 
words  as  its  epitaph,  than  the  tomb  of  Charles  Chauncey. 
Mr.  Chauncey's  manners  partook  of  the  kindness  of  his 
nature.  To  him  might  be  appropriated  the  beautiful  sketch 
Mr.  Addison  has  drawn  of  a  great  light*  of  the  English 
law.  "  His  life  was  in  every  part  of  it  set  off  with  that 
graceful  modesty  and  reserve  which  made  his  virtues 
more  beautiful,  the  more  they  were  cast  in  such  agreeable 
shades.  His  great  humanity  appeared  in  the  minutest 
circumstances  of  his  conversation.  You  found  it  in  the 
benevolence  of  his  aspect,  the  complacency  of  his  beha 
vior,  and  the  tone  of  his  voice.  His  great  application  to 
the  severer  studies  of  the  law  had  not  infected  his  temper 
with  anything  positive  or  litigious  ;  he  did  not  know 
what  it  was  to  wrangle  on  indifferent  points,  to  triumph 
in  the  superiority  of  his  understanding,  or  to  be  super 
cilious  on  the  side  of  truth.  He  joined  the  greatest  deli 
cacy  of  good  breeding  to  the  greatest  strength  of  reason. 
*  Lord  Somers. 


166  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

By  approving  the  sentiments  of  a  person  with  whom  he 
conversed,  in  such  particulars  as  were  just,  he  won  him 
over  from  those  points  in  which  he  was  mistaken ;  and 
had  so  agreeable  a  way  of  conveying  knowledge,  that  who 
ever  conferred  with  him  grew  the  wiser,  without  perceiv 
ing  that  he  had  been  instructed.  His  principles  were 
founded  in  reason  and  supported  by  virtue,  and  there 
fore  did  not  lie  at  the  mercy  of  ambition,  avarice,  or  re 
sentment." 

Mr.  Chauncey  abstained  from  taking  an  active  part  in 
politics  ;  and  with  a  single  exception,  that  of  his  consent 
ing  to  sit  as  a  member  of  the  Convention  for  revising  the 
constitution  of  the  State,  he  uniformly  declined  public 
office.  It  would  certainly  be  unfortunate  for  the  country 
if  all  our  ablest  lawyers  should  adopt  the  same  line  of  con 
duct.  But  the  example  may  suggest  a  wholesome  lesson 
to  the  junior  portion  of  the  bar.  No  man  can  expect  to 
become  an  eminent  lawyer  who  does  not,  for  at  least  a 
score  of  years  or  more,  confine  himself  rigidly  to  his  pro 
fession.  The  temptation  to  embark  in  politics  is  very 
great,  especially  under  a  government  like  ours  ;  and  it 
has  proved  fatal  to  the  hopes  of  many  a  young  lawyer  of 
brilliant  talents.  The  rewards  of  jurisprudence,  like  the 
choicest  crystals  of  the  Alps,  are  too  remote  and  too  dif 
ficult  of  access,  to  be  secured  by  any  precarious  and  in 
constant  exertions.  The  path  which  leads  to  them  is 
narrow  and  rugged,  obstructed  with  rocks  and  exposed  to 


THE    LAWYER.  167 

avalanches  ;  and  he  who  sufiers  himself  to  be  intimidated 
by  dangers,  or  diverted  into  by-paths  in  quest  of  flowers, 
must  make  up  his  mind  to  relinquish  the  jewels  to  his 
competitors. 

Mr.  Chauncey's  respect  for  the  Sabbath  was  one  of 
the  influences  which  contributed  to  mould  as  well  his 
intellectual  and  social,  as  his  elevated  moral  char 
acter. 

The  example  is  instructive.  There  is  no  need  of  as 
suming — it  would  be  discourteous  and  unjust  to  assume, 
that  the  bar  stands  in  special  need  of  admonition  on  this 
subject.  Could  the  truth,  however,  be  revealed,  it  might 
be  found  that  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  our  able  and 
rising  lawyers  were  more  or  less  in  the  habit  of  appro 
priating  a  part  of  the  Sabbath  to  the  study  and  arrange 
ment  of  their  cases.  They  forget  that  there  is  a  law  in 
existence  paramount  to  all  earthly  legislation ;  nor  are 
they  struck  with  the  incongruity  of  preparing  themselves 
to  expound  and  enforce  human  statutes,  by  treading 
under  foot  the  law  of  God.  The  pernicious  consequences 
which  flow  from  this  practice  are  manifold.  It  weakens 
the  moral  sense.  No  man  can  habitually  or  frequently 
set  at  naught  a  divine  ordinance,  without  blunting  his 
conscience  and  impairing  his  reverence  for  the  authority 
of  God. 

It  removes  a  man  from  all  the  wholesome  influences  of 
the  sanctuary. 


168  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

If  any  confidence  is  to  be  placed  in  the  opinion  of 
eminent  physiologists,  the  Sabbath,  even  though  a  posi 
tive  institute,  has  its  foundation  in  the  nature  of  man.  It 
is  no  arbitrary  decree,  but  an  ordinance  indispensable  to 
the  proper  culture  and  development  of  his  physical  and 
mental  powers,  and  to  his  social  happiness.  The  tendency 
of  an  uninterrupted  devotion  to  earthly  pursuits  is  to  de 
base  the  character,  and  to  induce  premature  exhaustion 
and  decay.  The  Sabbath  comes  to  us  as  an  angel  of 
mercy,  to  withdraw  us,  at  stated  intervals,  from  the  sec- 
ularities  with  which  we  are  engrossed — to  recruit  our 
wearied  frames — to  let  in  upon  our  souls  and  upon  our 
concerns  the  light  of  eternity — to  revive  our  fading  im 
pressions  of  spiritual  objects — to  bring  us  into  commu 
nion  with  the  Father  of  our  spirits — and  to  remind  us  of 
what  we  are  s'o  prone  to  forget,  that 


"  Tis  not  the  whole  of  life  to  live, 
Nor  all  of  death  to  die." 


There  are  doubtless  exceptions,  but  it  will  generally 
be  found  that  lawyers  who  devote  the  whole  seven  days 
to  business,  pay  the  penalty  of  their  error,  either  in  a 
loss  of  health,  or  in  falling  a  prey  to  vicious  indulgences. 
The  overtasked  constitution  gives  way  under  a  load  it 
was  never  designed  to  bear.  Physical  debility  is  fol 
lowed  by  mental  depression.  The  nervous  system  ac- 


THE    LAWYER.  169 

quires  a  morbid  sensitiveness,  and  men  of  a  serene  and 
amiable  temper  and  bland  address,  become  irritable, 
harsh,  and  repulsive.  Not  unfrequently,  stimulating 
drinks  are  invoked  to  inspire  the  strength  demanded  by 
urgent  professional  duties,  and  by  degrees,  the  occasional 
expedient  becomes  a  daily  necessity,  and  the  victim  has 
tens  with  accelerated  pace  to  a  dishonored  grave.  In 
other  instances,  the  nerves  become  more  and  more  disor 
dered,  until  reason  is  dethroned ;  and  the  once  gifted 
advocate  only  lives  to  excite  the  pity  of  the  bar  he 
adorned,  or  awakens  their  profounder  sorrow  by  his  sui 
cidal  death.  The  wrecks  are  scattered  all  along  the 
shore  you  are  coasting,  and  even  those  who  have  just 
cleared  the  port  and  set  their  sails  to  the  breeze,  may 
deem  themselves  happy  if  they  have  not  come  in  sight 
of  them. 

The  testimony  of  Lord  Chief  Justice  Hale  on  this  point 
has  frequently  been  quoted.  "  I  have  found,  by  a  strict 
and  diligent  observation,  that  a  due  observance  of  the  duty 
of  this  day,  hath  ever  had  joined  to  it  a  blessing  upon  the 
rest  of  my  time ;  and  the  week  that  hath  been  so  begun 
hath  been  blessed  and  prosperous  to  me ;  and,  on  the 
other  side,  when  I  have  been  negligent  of  the  duties  of 
this  day,  the  rest  of  the  week  has  been  unsuccessful  and 
unhappy  to  my  own  secular  employments  ;  so  that  I 
could  easily  make  an  estimate  of  my  successes  in  my 
own  secular  employments  the  week  following,  by  the 
15 


1*70  SUCCESS    IN    LIFE. 

manner  of  my  passing  this  day  ;  and  this  I  do  not  write 
lightly  or  inconsiderately,  but  upon  a  long  and  sound 
observation  and  experience.'' 

It  has  been  implied  in  every  line  of  this  sketch,  that 
Mr.  Chauncey  was  a  sincere  and  decided  Christian.  He 
not  only  received  the  Bible  as  a  Divine  Revelation,  but 
embraced  its  doctrines  with  a  cordial  faith,  and  made  its 
precepts  the  rule  of  his  conduct. 

This  great  and  good  man  has  gone  to  his  reward.* 
Full  of  years  and  full  of  honors,  in  the  maturity  of  all 
his  powers,  and  without  any  exhibition  of  human  infir 
mity,  he  has  been  gathered  to  his  fathers.  Life's  work 
was  done,  and  well  done ;  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  he 
has  received  that  crown  of  righteousness  which  the  Lord, 
the  righteous  Judge,  will  give  to  all  them  that  love  his 
appearing. 

It  is  the  prerogative  of  Religion  to  make  and  keep 
men  pure,  and  to  confer  that  refinement  of  feeling  for 
which  good-breeding  can  only  substitute  a  graceful  ad 
dress — in  other  words,  to  make  men  what  good-breeding 
requires  them  to  appear  to  be.  The  morality  which  is 
divorced  from  godliness,  however  specious  and  captiva 
ting  to  the  eye,  is  superficial  and  deceptive.  The  mo 
rality  you  require,  "  the  only  morality,  (in  the  language 
of  an  eminent  compeer  of  the  venerated  Chauncey,!)  the 

*  Mr.  Chauncey  died  in  September,  1 849. 
f  Hon.  John  Sargent 


THE    LAWYER.  %       171 

only  morality  that  is  clear  in  its  source,  pure  in  its  pre 
cepts,  and  efficacious  in  its  principles,  is  the  morality  of 
the  Gospel.  All  else  at  last  is  but  idolatry — the  wor 
ship  of  something  of  man's  own  creation,  and  that  thrice 
imperfect  and  feeble  like  himself,  and  wholly  insufficient 
to  give  him  support  and  strength." 


NOTES. 


A. 

COMMONPLACE-BOOKS. 

"In  reading  authors,  when  yon  find 
Bright  passages  that  strike  your  mind, 
And  which,  perhaps,  you  may  have  reason 
To  think  on  at  another  season, 
Be  not  contented  with  the  sight, 
But  take  them  down  in  black  and  white. 
Such  a  respect  is  wisely  shown, 
As  makes  another's  thoughts  onr  own." 

PRESIDENT  DWIGHT'S  advice  to  students  was,  "  Al 
ways  carry  with  you,  wherever  you  go,  a  commonplace- 
book  in  your  pockets,  and  note  down  on  the  spot  what 
you  wish  to  retain.  *  That  only  is  knowledge  which  is 
exact.' " 

Dr.  Johnson  remarks,  that  "  a  man  who  views  an 
object  closely  and  minutely  and  leaves  it  two  or  three 
hours  or  longer,  and  then  returns,  will  be  surprised  to 
find  how  much  the  remembrance  of  the  parts  have  faded 
from  his  mind.  The  great  leading  features  may  be 
retained,  but  the  minute  discriminating  points  are  soon 
lost.  You  will,  by  having  a  commonplace-book  always 
15* 


174  NOTES. 

at  hand,  be  able  to  get  together  a  vast  number  of  facts. 
You  may  think  that  it  will  be  only  once  in  a  great  while 
that  you  will  meet  with  anything  worth  putting  down  ; 
but  you  are  mistaken — in  almost  every  place,  if  you  are 
observing,  you  will  find  much  that  will  be  important. 
It  is  from  laziness  (man  is  naturally  lazy),  rather  than 
from  want  of  capacity,  that  men  are  deficient  in  useful 
knowledge. 

Sagacity  of  mind  depends  almost  wholly  upon  indus 
try  united  with  attention.  Very  few  of  our  race  attend 
to  what  is  passing  before  them.  This  is  a  rare,  very 
rare  quality  in  the  best  disposed  and  most  contempla 
tive  minds. 

A  small  note-book  for  the  pocket,  and  Todd's  c  Index 
Rerum,'  or  Gould's  c  Universal  Index,'  for  the  common 
place-book,  will  facilitate  this  mode  of  storing  up  knowl 
edge  for  future  use. 

A  commonplace-book,  without  methodical  arrangement, 
would  be  just  about  as  convenient  as  a  large  house  with 
out  partition  walls  to  separate  it  into  apartments." 

'  •  While  Sir  Matthew  Hale  was  improving  himself  in 
the  study  of  the  law,"  says  Bishop  Burnet,  "  he  not  only 
kept  the  hours  of  the  hall  constantly  in  term-time,  but 
seldom  put  himself  out  of  commons  in  vacation-time ;  and 
continued,  then,  to  follow  his  studies  with  unwearied  dil 
igence  ;  and  not  being  satisfied  with  the  books  writ  about 
it,  or  to  take  things  upon  trust,  was  very  diligent  in 

* 


NOTES.  175 

searching  all  records.  Then  did  he  make  divers  collec 
tions  out  of  the  books  he  had  read,  and,  mixing  them  with 
his  own  observations,  digested  them  into  a  commonplace- 
book,  which  he  did  with  so  much  industry  and  judgment 
that  an  eminent  judge  of  the  King's  Bench  borrowed  it 
of  him  when  he  was  Lord  Chief  Baron.  He  unwillingly 
lent  it,  because  it  had  been  written  by  him  before  he  was 
called  to  the  bar,  and  had  never  been  thoroughly  revised 
by  him  since  that  time  ;  only  what  alterations  had  been 
made  in  the  law,  by  subsequent  statutes  and  judgments, 
were  added  by  him  as  they  had  happened ;  but  the  judge, 
having  perused  it,  said  that, '  though  it  was  composed  by 
him  so  early,  he  did  not  think  any  lawyer  in  England 
could  do  it  better.'  " 


B. 


"  His  whole  life  (Sir  Matthew  Hale)  was  nothing  else 
but  a  continual  course  of  labor  and  industry. 

"  He  looked  on  readiness  in  arithmetic  as  a  thing  which 
might  be  useful  to  him  in  his  own  employment,  and  ac 
quired  it  to  such  a  degree  that  he  would  often,  on  a  sud 
den,  resolve  very  hard  questions,  which  had  puzzled  the 
best  accountants  about  town. 

"He  studied  algebra,  and  went  through  all  the  other 
mechanical  sciences. 


176  NOTES. 

"  He  was  also  very  conversant  in  philosophical  learn 
ing^  and  in  all  the  various  experiments  and  rare  discov 
eries  of  this  age,  and  had  the  new  books  written  on  these 
subjects  sent  him  from  all  parts,  which  he  both  read  and 
examined  critically.  Indeed,  it  will  seem  scarcely  cred 
ible  that  a  man  so  much  employed,  and  of  so  severe  a  tem 
per  of  mind,  could  find  leisure  to  read,  observe,  and  write 
so  much  of  these  subjects  as  he  did.  He  called  them  his 
diversions ;  for  he  often  said,  when  he  was  weary  with 
the  study  of  the  law,  or  divinity,  he  used  to  recreate  him 
self  with  philosophy  or  the  mathematics. 

"  To  these  he  added  great  skill  in  physic,  anatomy, 
and  chirurgery.  And  he  used  to  say,  no  man  could  be 
absolutely  a  master  in  any  profession,  without  having 
some  skill  in  other  sciences. 

"  To  this  he  added  great  researches  into  ancient  his 
tory. 

"  Above  all,  he  seemed  to  have  made  the  study  of  di 
vinity  the  chief  of  all  others. 

"  It  seems  extravagant,  and  almost  incredible,  that  one 
man,  in  no  great  compass  of  years,  should  have  acquired 
such  a  variety  of  knowledge ;  but  as  his  parts  were  quick 
and  his  apprehensions  lively,  his  memory  great  and  his 
judgment  strong,  so  his  industry  was  almost  indefatiga 
ble.  He  rose  always  betimes  in  the  morning,  w as  never 
idle,  scarcely  ever  held  any  discourse  about  news,  except 
with  some  few  in  whom  he  confided  entirely.  He  spent 


NOTES.  177 

very  little  time  in  eating  and  drinking,  and  lived  so  phil  - 
osophically  that  he  always  ended  his  meal  with  an  appe 
tite.  By  these  means  he  gained  much  time  that  is  oth 
erwise  unprofitahly  wasted." 


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